In the summer of 1882, Elijah Davis rose before dawn, his calloused hands already aching from the day ahead. A former slave turned sharecropper, he had built his farm in Mississippi with sweat and stubborn hope. The land wasn’t generous, but it was his—an achievement in itself.

As the sun climbed, Elijah worked alongside his wife, Clara, and their son, Samuel, planting corn and tending the stubborn soil. They laughed despite the hardships, their resilience rooted in dreams of freedom for Samuel’s future.

That evening, as the horizon burned orange, Elijah sat on the porch, watching fireflies flicker. Life wasn’t easy, but in those quiet moments, he felt the weight of history and the power of his own defiance. For Elijah, every day on that farm was a victory.