The people who made history? Who were these characters from the past? Like the characters in a novel, the people who shaped the past, present and our future should leap off the pages to tell the story of what happened, when and why.
When the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in the State of Tennessee on August 18, 1920, the suffragists cheered and yellow rose petals rained down upon the legislators in the Tennessee General Assembly. The amendment gave women across America the right to vote. It had been a hard fought battle with some predicting that families would fail and morality would be lost if women were able to vote. Representative Joseph Hanover of Memphis, a Jewish immigrant from Poland, was the voice holding together the West Tennessee votes to pass the amendment. He was attacked in an elevator on Capitol Hill in Nashville, and the governor assigned Hanover a bodyguard. It was the War of the Roses, red for the Antis and yellow for the Suffs. Bill Haltom wrote about the young Joe Hanover whose courage changed the way America votes today in Why Can’t Mother Vote? Joseph Hanover and the Unfinished Business of Democracy. What made Joe Hanover take up this cause? His family came to America to escape the Tsar’s rule. They opened their dry goods store on Broad Street and lived upstairs. Every night, his family studied the United States Constitution. So Joe asked why his mother didn’t have the same freedom in America as the men who voted.
Sometimes practical advice is needed in a how-to book. But what’s even better is not a list but a personal story. Dr. Dennis Renshaw wrote Footprints on the Mountains: Hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine offering inspirational thoughts to guide future hikers and practical advice on hiking gear. His trail name was “Preacher,” and he sometimes sat with hikers he met and offered spiritual insight. He received five-stars for his book (which contest judges noted was beautifully edited, designed and illustrated) and was honored as a Best New Voice in Nonfiction. Dr. Dennis Renshaw was born in Brownsville, Tennessee, but grew up in Iran, India and Indonesia as his father was with the United States State Department. At age 15, Dr. Renshaw climbed Mt. Damavand, Iran, elevation 18,406 feet, the highest mountain in Iran and the highest volcano in Asia. It’s snow-covered year-round. Footprints on the Mountain continues to sell two years later because the author has the voice of experience.
Civil rights activist and leading mediator Jocelyn Dan Wurzburg of Memphis wanted to tell her story of what it was like when Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis. She recalled the day that she stood before the Memphis City Council and insisted they do something to give garbage workers a living wage. The Tennessee Human Rights Commission Award is named in her honor, the Jocelyn D. Wurzburg Civil Rights Legacy Award. Jocie: Southern Jewish American Princess, Civil Rights Activist is still winning awards today. She’s writing her second book, Travel Tales, now. We can hardly wait to publish it. Jocie has a great sense of humor, and her stories will often evoke smiles and laughter.
Madison County historian Harbert Alexander has written eight books about the characters who created our history in Tennessee. He’s re-releasing his 2002 book in 2021, Tales of Madison, which is considered such a collectible that prices range from $35 to $125 online! We’ve been proud to publish Soldiers, Saints & Sinners and Echoes and Footprints. Now he’s working on his first Christian novel Turnaround. He shows no signs of slowing down — because, well, there are characters out there shaping our history as we speak! Who knows what they’re doing?
What is the truth in your life or truths that you’ve seen and want to convey in your book? We will help you research and write.
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