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| Preface | |
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| Parents as Mentors | |
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| Community Elders as Co-Parents and Mentors | |
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| Teachers and Their Mes Ages | |
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| Spelman College--A Safe Haven | |
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| Europe | |
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| Martin Luther King, Jr., and A Spring of Change | |
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| The Yale Years | |
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| The Mississippi Years | |
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| Mississippi Mentors | |
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| Martin Luther King, Jr., and R.F.K.: A Season of Hope for the Hungry | |
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| Movement Time | |
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| Great Black Women Mentors and Movement Builders | |
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| Our Children as Mentors | |
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| America as Mentor for Its Children and the World | |
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| Afterword: A Parent's Pledge and Twenty-Five More Lessons for Life | |
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| Always remember that you are God's child. No man or woman can look down on you and you cannot look down on any man or woman or child | |
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| Don't wait for, expect, or rely on favors. Count on earning them by hard work and perseverance | |
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| Call things by their right names | |
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| Don't listen to naysayers offering no solutions or take no or but for an answer | |
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| Don't be afraid to stick your neck out, to make mistakes, or to speak up | |
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| Keep your word and your commitments | |
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| Be strategic, focus, and don't scatter your energies on many things that don't add up to a better whole | |
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| Watch out for success. It can be more dangerous than failure | |
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| You can't do everything by yourself but you can do a lot | |
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| Asking the right questions and measuring the right things may be more important than finding the right answers | |
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| Travel lightly through life and resist the tyranny of burdensome or unneeded things | |
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| Be a pilgrim and not a tourist in life and don't confuse heroism with fame or celebrity | |
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| God has a job for all of us to do. Open up the envelope of your soul and try to discern the Creator's orders inside | |
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| Follow the Golden Rule rather than the world's silver, iron, bronze, and copper rules | |
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| Bear all or most of the criticism and share all of the credit | |
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| Be real. Try to do what you say, say what you mean, and be what you seem | |
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| Avoid high-maintenance, low-impact people and life in the fast lane | |
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| God did not create two classes of children or human beings--only one | |
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| Don't ever give up on life. It is God's gift. When trouble comes, hang in | |
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| Strive hard to be a good parent | |
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| Be a good ancestor. Stand for something bigger than yourself. Add value to the Earth during your sojourn | |
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| Don't let anything or anybody get between you and your education | |
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| Never judge the contents of a box by its wrappings | |
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| Take responsibility for your behavior. Don't make excuses, blame, or point fingers at others or hide behind "everybody's doing it." | |
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| Possessions and power don't make the man or woman: principles, character, and love do | |
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| A Glossary of Mentors and Significant Others | |
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| Works Cited | |