Mississippi Girl, North Carolina Woman

Raised in poverty, domestic violence, and molestation in the deep South, Jo Ann Brewer was told she would grow up to be no one special. Indeed, she could have fulfi lled this prophecy told to her by her own mother. Instead, she choose to follow a small voice in the back of her mind, which said that she was already someone special. What she discovered was faith that fueled her selfsustenance. By her faith in God, she forged ahead even when it seemed there was nowhere to go. Jo Ann Brewer carries witness of her faith through her action and her words. Words written on scrap paper at the kitchen table or while sitting in a mall parking lot. Her words are testimony to the fact that adversity can and has been overcome by a strong-willed girl from Mississippi.