Achieving Success Despite the Odds

By Reginald Leon Green

Achieving Success Despite the Odds is a historical, nonfictional autobiography of the life of Dr. Reginald Leon Green. As he shares his journey from rags to riches, he outlines the process and procedures that he used to overcome poverty, a variety of challenges, educational deficiencies, low self-esteem, and poor concept of self.

Dr. Green is transparent about his struggles and describes that many times, he had to beat the odds. The book illustrates that there are multiple pathways to success and that if you dare to not stop, you will be victorious. Reading the accounts of his life experiences will inspire you to persist in your personal journey. You will also be motivated to confront all odds and ultimately succeed in achieving your personal and professional goals.

Dr. Green's life story proves that failure is not a final destination if you keep going, honor God, and treat mistakes as lessons. This is his recipe for success. If you follow it, nothing can or will hold you down or back; you, too, will beat the odds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 2, 2024
• ISBN: 9798888512364

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Beginning Years

Chapter 2: Surviving Elementary School

Chapter 3: Challenges in High School

Chapter 4: College, a Leap of Faith

Chapter 5: Transitioning from College to the Workforce

Chapter 6: Compliance vs. Commitment

Chapter 7: Climbing the Professional Ladder

Chapter 8: The Road to the Superintendency

Chapter 9: Entering Higher Education

Chapter 10: My Return to Memphis

Chapter 11: The Final Analysis: A Guide to Success and Inner Peace

About the Author

cover.jpg

Achieving Success Despite the Odds

Reginald Leon Green

ISBN 979-8-88851-237-1 (Hardcover)

ISBN 979-8-88851-236-4 (Digital)

Copyright © 2023 Reginald Leon Green

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

To my grandchildren. It is my desire that the contents of this book will give you a deeper understanding of the life of your grandfather and the importance of family. May it serve as motivation and provide you with strategies that you can use as you strive to successfully achieve your life's goals.

Foreword

As a child of the sixties revolution who grew up in the deep South and who traversed many of the same highways and byways as did Dr. Reginald Green and as a longtime colleague, I am honored to write this foreword for his educational autobiography, Achieving Success Despite the Odds. I believe that all roads merge for those who are meant to meet fortuitously into simultaneous oneness. That merger of meeting Dr. Green was fortuitous for me; I have learned from him and have an understanding through that simultaneous oneness; his trials and triumphs mirror the trials and triumphs of many individuals who lived through a segregated South and who overcame and triumphed despite the odds against them. You, too, have come upon that same merger, the simultaneous oneness, now as you engage with his book.

Dr. Reginald Green shares his inspiring life story in education, from his humble beginning in elementary school all the way to his influential days as a professor and leader in higher education. Dr. Green's successful journey, despite unfortunate circumstances, is encouraging for all who have the belief that education can make a difference in their lives and even for those who have not yet arrived at that conclusion. It is a true honor to know this educational giant among twentieth- and twenty-first-century educators, and you now have this same honor of knowing him through his autobiography. This is a must-read book for those who aspire to rise up and those who wish to learn how from this mentor among mentors.

Dr. Beverly J. Irby

Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Regents Professor

Marilyn Kent Byrne

Endowed Chair for Student Success and Director, Education Leadership Research Center

College of Education and Human Development

Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77845-4226

936-870-5536

Editor emerita, mentoring and tutoring; advancing women in leadership; education policy briefs; and dual language research and practice

Principal investigator: SEED Grant (APLUS) and OELA Grants (PAL and MOOPIL)

Preface

In his compelling and unforgettable autobiography, Dr. Reginald Green has beamed a laser on his introspective journey. He has worked untiringly from a young age to unlock and overcome conditions that created roadblocks that could have limited his capacity for greatness. His phenomenal ability to navigate obstacles and solve problems has clearly defined both his skill at resistance and the resilience of the human spirit. He did not allow either friend or foe to deter him from his path and life purpose. His determination and incredible, indefatigable work ethic can provide insight and inspiration to readers of all backgrounds and cultures. In addition, from Dr. Green's respect and commitment to family, he has created an amazing legacy for his children and grandchildren.

As he considered possibilities that defied logic, his clarity of purpose and ability to inspire have transformed the lives of thousands of students to achieve beyond their perceived capacity. Dr. Green was destined to never be a victim of fear, doubt, and apathy. When negativity raised its threatening demeanor, he rejected its grasp and chose to be in authentic alignment with his perceived destiny and indestructible belief system; thus, he changed the trajectory of his life to a passion for immeasurable achievements and unbelievable success!

I offer my warmest congratulations to my dear friend and highly esteemed colleague of almost fifty years. I am grateful for the invaluable professional opportunities he has provided.

Glynda C. Cryer, EdD

Retired Educator, Memphis City Schools

Acknowledgments

If there is one thing that I learned while creating Achieving Success Despite the Odds, it is that you cannot do anything without individuals who support you. So many individuals assisted me in achieving my life's goals, and to them I am grateful. Thank you. I trust I have proven to be worthy of your admiration and support.

First, I give thanks to God for the gifts he gave me that allowed me to achieve success despite the odds.

I offer a very special thanks to my wife, Bertha Jean Jones Green, who traveled around the country with me, sometimes forsaking her dreams and aspirations in support of mine. Without Jean, I would never have been able to achieve any degree of success.

I thank every member of my family who gave me encouragement and pushed me when I needed to be pushed.

Also, I give special thanks to Ms. Ernestine Ramey, my ninth-grade English teacher, who gave me my first opportunity to demonstrate excellence and made me feel good about myself.

I also give thanks to the many individuals who assisted me in one way or another, individuals too numerous to mention in this space.

Without reservation, I acknowledge Mr. Oliver J. Johnson, Dr. Neil Aslin, Dr. Frederick John Gies, and Dr. Ric Hovda, who were my greatest supporters in climbing the mountain. These individuals not only removed huge roadblocks, but they also became stepping stones to my success.

Finally but by no means the least, a special thank-you goes to my doctoral students at the University of Memphis. It was you who gave me my greatest professional joy and satisfaction.

Reginald Leon Green

Introduction

Understanding self and others is a concept that I have come to realize can have a positive or negative effect on one's life, and that effect can last a lifetime. With an understanding of self, an individual acquires knowledge of his personal beliefs, his thought processes, and how he behaves or reacts in each situation. To a large extent, self-understanding enables an individual to assess what he believes about the environment in which he lives and functions, the people with whom he interacts, the strengths he has acquired, and the values that influence his behavior. An understanding of others enables an individual to have knowledge of the strengths, interests, and behaviors of individuals with whom he is affiliated.

With an understanding of self and others, an individual can realize the impact of the spoken word, the effects of his behavior on others, and the effects of the behavior of others on him. This person also acquires knowledge of processes and procedures that lead to excellence. The greater the compatibility between an individual and the individuals with whom he chooses to affiliate, the more likely a positive relationship will exist between them.

It is my understanding of self and others and the lack of my understanding of self and others that inform the contents of this book. To the readers of this book, it might seem as if I am casting blame or holding others responsible for the challenges that I faced in life. That is not the case. In fact, it is far from my intent. Rather, having analyzed the many challenges that I faced and the reasons for those challenges, I have concluded that sharing my experiences in this book might assist others in understanding their struggles and finding solutions to them. Equally important is that they might fully understand the importance of developing a deep understanding of self and others.

With an understanding of self and others, an individual can develop strategies for use in managing the perceptions of differences as differences are what separate us. Differences can mean everything or nothing. They do not reference things that are good or bad but things that are not the same. It is an individual's point of view whether individuals or things are not the same. Simply put, it is the number that is left after subtracting a smaller number from a larger number.

As individuals, we are different. In pursuit of success, the question becomes Who defines that difference? With an understanding of self and others, we can define that difference and give meaning to it. We can decide the individuals with whom we want to affiliate and the groups in which we want to become a member. These decisions help us understand who we are. Once we accept who we are, we can take the initiative, sustain the determination to implement those initiatives, and persevere until we become all that we are capable of becoming. The success we achieve can be based on wealth, appearance, talent, academic readiness, charisma, or something else. However, our view of ourselves and other people helps us define success and sparks our desire for inclusion or exclusion.

Growing up, my perception of differences influenced the choices that I made and motivated my desire for inclusion or exclusion. It also influenced me to want to become a member of one group as opposed to another or affiliate with one individual as opposed to another. What I often failed to realize was that there is always more to an individual than meets the eye, and if I were different, who determined if that difference was positive or negative?

It is hard to believe that I lived most of my life thinking that I understood myself. However, it was not until I started to reflect on my past experiences for the purpose of authoring this book that I realized that I did not really understand myself and the whys of my actions. I did not really understand the organizational behaviors of other people and why they behaved toward me as they did. In researching my past challenges and experiences, I realized that most of my past challenges were a result of not coping with my own lack of understanding. The questions that loomed large were answered as I conducted research for this book. Four of the major questions were the following: (1) How did I benefit from self-understanding? (2) Why did I take the initiative to pursue my goals? (3) Why was I determined to try and try again until I reached the height that I knew was excellence? and (4) How did I sustain myself once I reached the height that I sought? Having answered these questions (and there were others), I realized that my greatest satisfaction comes from achieving an established goal. I also realized that I am willing to take the first step because I can assess and initiate things independently of others. Also, I work with a purpose, and when I do not accomplish my established purpose, I persist in my efforts despite the difficulty or delay in achieving my set goals.

The pages of this book contain stories, events, activities, and people with whom I interacted during my life. The names of some individuals have been changed out of respect for their privacy. Having a purpose and using proven processes and procedures enabled me to accomplish my life's aims and purposes. Through these stories, events, and activities, I illustrate the benefits of taking initiative, being determined, and being willing to persevere until the set goal is achieved. When the final pages of this book are read, it is my desire that the reader will understand that positive relationships, communication, and interaction with people played a major role in each story, event, and activity shared. Success depended on the give-and-take between me and other individuals and/or among me and members of the groups with which I was affiliated. I also want the reader to understand that success can be achieved despite the odds. Never give up on yourself, and I will see you at the top.

Chapter 1

The Beginning Years

You cannot choose the family into which you are born, but you can choose the manner in which you live your life.

On the ninth of November, 1940, I was born in Jackson, Tennessee. I was Isaiah and Mary Green's eleventh child. My memories of life between 1940 and 1945 are undoubtedly a mixture of things that I can recall and other things people have told me. My father was the son of a slave, Lawson Green, who was freed in Knoxville, Tennessee. He migrated from Knoxville, Tennessee to Whiteville, Tennessee, and then to Jackson, Tennessee, where I was born. Thus, I am the second generation out of slavery. I never met my fraternal grandparents, who, in addition to my dad, had several other children. The ones I was able to develop a relationship with were Adolphus Green and Liza Green-Boyd, who I fondly referred to as Uncle Adolf and Aunt Liza. Both resided in Missouri. Uncle Adolf resided in East St. Louis, Missouri, and Aunt Liza resided in St. Louis, Missouri, where I visited during many summers.

My mother, Mary Lou dell Kirk-Green, was the daughter of Isom and Bessie Kirk, who were my maternal grandparents. In addition to my mother, my maternal grandparents had three other children—Isom Kirk Junior, Lena Kirk Johnson, and Geneva Kirk Hughes. I have little remembrance of these individuals as I had little or no interaction with them. In fact, my only recollection of them comes from my sisters and brothers.

In addition to me, over three decades, my parents had twelve other children. My generation consisted of thirteen children, eight boys and five girls. We lived at 509 Institute Street in a shotgun house consisting of three rooms. We called them the front room, the middle room, and the kitchen. The bathroom facilities were outside of the house which we called the Outhouse. We bathed in the middle room in a number 3 tin tub; its major use was for washing clothes.

Three Decades of Children

The ages of my siblings covered five decades. This vast range robbed me of the joy and fulfillment that most children acquire from their siblings. I often joke that my parents had three sets of children, and I am in set three. The first set consisted of Isiah Green Junior, who was born in 1918 in Whiteville, Tennessee, and died nine months later of pneumonia. At that time, there were no medical treatments for African-Americans. The second and third children of this decade were David Lee Green and Allen Alfard Green; both served in World War II. The last child of the first decade of children was Mary Helen Green, who was the first to graduate from college. She was instrumental in setting the pace. Her dedication and love of family enabled members of the second and third decades of children to attend and graduate from college.

Comprising the second decade of children were William Oliver Green, James Edward Green, and Charles Donovan Green. James and Charles also served in the armed forces. After completing their tour of duty in the service, James and Charles attended and graduated from college. Charles graduated from Lane College and became a teacher. James attended seminary in Middle Tennessee and became a minister.

Children in the third decade, of which I am a member, consisted of Albertus Green, who died during childbirth, Betty Jean Green, Alice Marie Green, Reginald Leon Green, Shirley Ann Green, and Georgia Louvenia Green. Alice, Reginald, Shirley, and Georgia graduated from college. Betty started college but chose to get married before completing her studies.

Around my fifth birthday, we moved up the street to 438 Institute Street. We lived in a house that my father constantly improved. It was larger than the house at 509 Institute Street. It consisted of four rooms and a bathroom. We had two front rooms, one room in the middle, a kitchen, and a bathroom. My sister Mary Helen used a portion of one of the front rooms as a beauty shop. She dressed hair and saved money to fund her college education and provide financial assistance to my parents. In addition to the house at 438 Institute Street, my dad secured a second property at 436 Institute on which he built a small addition that we used as a store. In the store, we sold food items to neighbors. The residence at 436 Institute was used as rental property.

My Early Childhood Years

Early Childhood Photo

My early childhood was filled with challenges and escapes from death as one of my sisters joked that I escaped death three times: once choking on a penny, a second time choking on a marble, and a third time choking on a peach seed. I could not keep things out of my mouth. My mother and father did not have a formal education. My father was self-taught, and my mother only completed the seventh grade. I received no preschool studies, and there were no male children of my age in the neighborhood. I was surrounded by my sisters as my brother closest to me was ten years older and had different interests. We did not have a television or a telephone. We struggled but lived a life filled with love as both of my parents loved family and worked hard to make sure we had what we needed. We were not poor; we survived, and sometimes we thrived.

I can remember having to go to the store to purchase breakfast each morning. My dad would give me two dollars and tell me to go to the grocery store, get two loaves of bread, a pound of sausage, a bottle of syrup, a dozen eggs; and bring him his change. I often wondered why I had to go to the grocery store each morning as opposed to purchasing enough groceries for a week. I soon realized that each day, my dad had to earn the two dollars that he gave me the next morning.

I lived at 438 Institute until I graduated from college and moved to Memphis, Tennessee, to start my professional career. The house on 438 Institute was not the best of homes, but it was far from the worst. In fact, it was on a street where many schoolteachers and ministers lived. My dad was proud that he was able to provide this home for us. Many of my classmates lived in the federal projects. One day, much to my regret, I asked Dad if we could move to the projects. He was extremely disappointed with my request as we were homeowners, and individuals who lived in the projects were living in subsidized housing. This was one of many times that my words hurt my dad. I did so because I was seeking inclusion from my childhood associates (not friends), not realizing the status that homeownership provided. My dad was an excellent provider. I realize the hurt my words must have caused my dad as our home was in foreclosure several times. However, we survived and lived a meaningful life.

Even though foreclosures appeared in the