Jessica Lloyd has three goals: earn a criminal justice degree from the University of New Orleans, save money, and marry a respectable man. But her best-laid plans falter when her sister, Crystal, dies unexpectedly. Jessica's world falls apart, and she drops out of school. Trying to escape the deep feelings of grief, Jessica moves to Indiana. But life there is not what she imagines, and she finds herself lost and confused. As if losing her younger sister isn't enough tragedy, she stumbles through life with two failed marriages and two children. With all of the trials in her life, Jessica begins to doubt her faith in God; she wonders if God has given up on answering her prayers. As Jessica's life falls apart and she experiences an unbelievable chain of events, she will either follow the tricks of the devil in disguise or listen carefully to discover what God truly wants for her. "My Cross to Bear" follows one family's journey through its trials and is a story of both reconciliation and love.

In May 1967, internationally renowned activist Fannie Lou Hamer purchased forty acres of land in the Mississippi Delta, launching the Freedom Farms Cooperative (FFC). A community-based rural and economic development project, FFC would grow to over 600 acres, offering a means for local sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and domestic workers to pursue community wellness, self-reliance, and political resistance. Life on the cooperative farm presented an alternative to the second wave of northern migration by African Americans--an opportunity to stay in the South, live off the land, and create a healthy community based upon building an alternative food system as a cooperative and collective effort. Freedom Farmers expands the historical narrative of the black freedom struggle to embrace the work, roles, and contributions of southern black farmers and the organizations they formed. Whereas existing scholarship generally views agriculture as a site of oppression and exploitation of black people, this book reveals agriculture as a site of resistance and provides a historical foundation that adds meaning and context to current conversations around the resurgence of food justice/sovereignty movements in urban spaces like Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York City, and New Orleans.

Jessica Lloyd has three goals: earn a criminal justice degree from the University of New Orleans, save money, and marry a respectable man. But her best-laid plans falter when her sister, Crystal, dies unexpectedly. Jessica's world falls apart, and she drops out of school. Trying to escape the deep feelings of grief, Jessica moves to Indiana. But life there is not what she imagines, and she finds herself lost and confused. As if losing her younger sister isn't enough tragedy, she stumbles through life with two failed marriages and two children. With all of the trials in her life, Jessica begins to doubt her faith in God; she wonders if God has given up on answering her prayers. As Jessica's life falls apart and she experiences an unbelievable chain of events, she will either follow the tricks of the devil in disguise or listen carefully to discover what God truly wants for her. "My Cross to Bear" follows one family's journey through its trials and is a story of both reconciliation and love.