tony j. stafford

It is 1947 in Belhaven, North Carolina, a small cotton textile mill town on the outer shoulders of Charlotte. While growing up within a strict Baptist working-class family and a segregated South, twelve-year-old Tobe Stanhope never sees a single colored student in school. But little does he know that the old South is on the verge of a civil rights movement that will change everything. Tobes journey from childhood into adulthood is a perilous one as he struggles with fundamental questions about his religion and male-female relationships. As he wrestles with his identity, independence, intellectual growth, social conscience, a spiritual crisis, and the search for truth and meaning, Toby encounters the greatest shock of his young life. Now he must draw upon his years of overcoming a variety of struggles as he clings to his beliefs about love and attempts to understand who is really in charge of his life and his future. In this poignant tale, a young man embarks on a journey of self-discovery as he grows into adulthood, faces challenges, falls in love, and searches for his true potential amid an ever-changing South.