Redemption The Story of Bert and His Boys

Well into the twentieth century, slavery cast its long shadow over African American life. The creation of systemic innovations such as sharecropping, the chain gang, and Jim Crow laws provided former enslavers the means to legally restrict and/or deny people of African descent the rewards of freedom. Within the restrictions imposed by the existence of these restraints on black life, Albert "Bert" Williams, a sharecropper living in South Carolina during the early decades of the twentieth century, struggled to carve out a meaningful life for his family. Despite his lack of material success, Bert enjoyed a reputation in his community as a good man. He was respected as a hardworking family man and revered for his efforts to instill in his children values that he believed would lead to their future prosperity in the society.

On a fateful night in1932, however, Bert's three teenage sons committed a criminal act that would change the course of his life. Out of concern for his sons' fate within a racist criminal justice system, Bert acted rashly to protect them from the consequences of their crime. Though performed out of love for his sons, Bert came to accept his behavior on that night as unforgivable for a good man and role model for his sons. Bert vowed to redeem himself even though he knew that his options for doing so after such a senseless act of self-betrayal would be few. But he also knew that they were out there, and he had to pursue them to achieve Redemption.

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