Night Watchman

The Journey of a Sixty-Five Year Old African American Male

The journey of sixty-five years old for an African American male in the United States has been a rough and rocky endeavor. A discussion of four major topics of great importance today is critical in explaining the most important factors in the life of Charles Henry Orr.

Father-and-Son Relationships

Help explain how Charles and his father interacted and cared about one another in a time where survival was a challenge. Becoming a man and/or developing into manhood were not a fast process for Charles; some of the reasons will be highlighted in this book.

The Role of Education

The importance of education came to him slow as well and will be explained. The role of dignity and respect in both of their lives had negative effects relative to their accomplishments in life.

Charles's Current Status and Success

Fortunately, Charles is still alive and working on some accomplishments that will contribute to society after he is gone. Soichiro, the founder of Honda, said, To me success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection. In fact, success represents 1% of your work that results from the 99% called failure.

Charles Orr has lived through many failures in life, but the point here is he has always worked on being successful. Webster defines success as favorable outcomes of desired goals and/or becoming wealthy or famous. Charles has been successful on the desired outcomes of some of his goals, but being wealthy and famous is not included.

Historical Perspective on African Americans

Drawing from Hornsby’s (2004) article titled African Americans to put Charles’s story in a historical perspective, there are thirty-five million black Americans living in the United States, accounting for 12 percent of the total population. They basically came from Western Africa. Without the use of genealogy research, Charles is sure he is in this group.