As a child of the 1960s, Elijah Heyward, Jr. saw life unfold with dramatic change where he was raised on Lady's Island in Beaufort, South Carolina. The decade began with the Civil Rights era fast gaining momentum. It ended with hopes of equality and justice for all as Jim Crow laws were being defeated throughout the South. It was an era that birthed a greater sense of self-identity and awareness for black youths. Serving as a bridge from the past to the present, Elijah Heyward, Jr. penned Stories & Poems of a Gullah Native as a tribute to trailblazers of the best the human spirit can achieve by putting these noble personalities, historical events, and personal recollections into prose and verse.