50 Years of Peril

About the Book

“Byron Brown has written an excellent semi-autographical message that resonates with the reader. His excellent details in explaining his story, his journey, his troubles and his ultimately successful outcome all within the backdrop of a memoir of respect and admiration for his father is yet another masterpiece accomplished by the author. Mr. Brown laments in the story the loss of his father in a tragic accident. Although no fault of the senior Mr. Brown, the tragic event led to many perils and “what-ifs” for the son. Yet, in Fifty Years of Peril: One Day of Illumination that Made the Difference, Byron Brown writes fearlessly in telling his story. This project was designed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the death of Mr. Samuel George Brown, Byron’s father. It is indeed an honor and a tribute to the man that Byron missed while growing up. For the reader of this story, you are in for a treat.” Stephen J. LaBrie, MBA, Howard University.

About the Author

In 2004, Brown received a South Carolina State Department of Education Fellowship to study at the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College, where Robert Frost’s poetry influences the campus in Vermont. In 2010, Brown received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship to study at the University of Kansas in the Richard Wright Summer Institute—The Wright Connection, and in August 2010 Brown was elected to participate in “”We the People,” Project of the National Endowment for the Humanities in the “Picturing America’s Conference: Out of the South: The African American Migration, “at the Sumter County Performing Arts Center. In June 2011, Brown received a National Endowment for the Humanities Award to study Abolitionism and the Underground Railroad at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. In June 2013, Brown received his 3rd NEH Award studying Abolitionism from the American Revolution to the Civil War: Fighting Slavery and Racial Injustice at the Library Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Brown has served as a Cooperating English Teacher for students from Harvard University, Boston College and Boston University through the Boston Public Schools when he taught English at the Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Dorchester, Massachusetts from 1994 to 1996. On April 1, 2009, Brown was named a United States-Russia Language, Technology Math and Science Exchange Teacher by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Finalist and Exchange Mentor Teacher. For the next two years, Brown officially served as a mentor for two exchange teachers from Egypt at Scott’s Branch High School in Summerton, South Carolina through Clarendon School District One. This was all made possible through the American Councils for International Education in Washington, D.C. Brown’s poetry writing skills has received great recognition. Brown has won both a state-wide and national poetry contest. On April 25, 2009, Brown won 1st place in his Festival on the Avenue Poetry Contest through the Sumter County Cultural Arts Center, honoring Dr. Arthenia Jackson Bates Millican, a native South Carolina national poet, author and professor. In 2011, Brown received national recognition for his poem: “Dream Teacher,” through the National Career Development Association. Brown has recited his original poetry on stage with national poet Sonia Sanchez during a program honoring Mrs. Millican at Patriot Hall in Sumter. Brown teaches English for the Prince George’s County Public Schools in Bowie, Maryland. Prior to joining Prince George’s County Public Schools, he taught in the Alexandria City Public Schools and the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Education. Brown has been named Clarendon School District One teacher of the Year both in 2004 and 2010. He also served as an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Morris College for seven years—2005 to 2012. Brown serve as an advisory member of the Arthenia Jackson Bates Millican Literacy Foundation. In 2009, Brown served as a volunteer English in Accra, Ghana and in the Volta Region in Agbozume, Ghana. Brown is the author of three books: Courage to Strive in the Midst of Adversities: A Journey from Hopelessness to Success, Realizing Dreams from A-Z: Principles for Excellence, and Fifty Years of Peril: One Day of Illumination. Brown is married to the former Joyce D. Ayanou and they have two children: Daniel Selase Brown and Hannah Esenam Victoria Brown, and they live in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area.