I Dared to Hope: How a Passion For Justice Transformed a Sharecropper's Son

From a sharecropper's shack on a Georgia plantation, through the heart of the civil rights movement, to the halls of the worldwide Protestant church - one man's nine-decade pilgrimage guided by an unshakeable faith in what could be.

I Dared to Hope recounts the extraordinary life journey of Oscar McCloud, who rose from the poverty of a sharecropping family in eastern Georgia in the 1930s and 1940s to positions of high-ranking leadership roles in the Presbyterian Church. McCloud outlines his extraordinary life experiences, from attending a one-room schoolhouse for primary school in the rural South, to becoming one of the first Black students to graduate from Warren Wilson College (N.C.), to a renowned pastoral career, culminating in his position as associate pastor at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City.

Through his memoir, McCloud exhibits the ability to envision a better life and new opportunities for service. McCloud's story is a testament to the transformative power of faith, education, and relentless dedication to justice.