Cotton Field of Dreams, a lesson in southern and women’s history, paints a vivid picture of roles played out by the women, children and family in the Arkansas delta. It is about the hard lessons children of cotton sharecroppers learned from under-educated but wise parents whose greatest gift was their children’s permission to dream. This story memorializes James and Ethel Kearney who taught their 17 children that nothing was too far out of reach if they put their minds and hearts into it. Their story is about the miracle of the south, and the limitless vision, the unflinching faith, and daring dreams of a poor, black family on Varner Road.

Foreword by Bill Clinton
Janis F. Kearney’s Cotton Field of Dreams paints a poignant picture of an Arkansas black family’s struggles to live the American Dream, before and after the civil rights movement, with their only assets hope, sweat, and a devout faith in God. This author’s memories of growing up black and impoverished in the South are the very memories white Americans need to know and learn from.

The Kearney family was the poorest, largest family in their small rural county in Southeast Arkansas, but their dreams were rich and large. This amazing family is living proof that seemingly impossible dreams, with hard work and persistence, can come true.

In part because of the South's history, our hearts are warmed by stories as this one: under-educated African American sharecroppers pushing their children to achieve academically, then seeing them reach amazing pinnacles of success. From their parents, the children absorbed a powerful conviction: they were neither better nor less than any other human beings. This conviction gave them the self-confidence to move far beyond their difficult beginnings.

Janis F. Kearney’s poignant memoir illuminates the larger truth: that it is the lessons we internalize in spite of our hurts and disappointments, that remain with us; that enable us to dream beyond today and work ourselves into a better tomorrow. With those lessons, Janis moved from the cotton fields of Gould to the halls of the White House.

In Cotton Field of Dreams we learn that James Kearney expected his children to contribute to this world, and he made them believe they could. I have been privileged to know and work with Janis and four of her brothers. They followed their father's lead.

The Kearney family underscored what I learned during my 12 years as governor, and 8 years in the White House: there is a necessary role for government in citizens’ lives -- to empower people like the Kearneys to make the most of their lives -- to defend and support the helpless -- to stop discrimination. But the most important force in children's lives, whether they are privileged or impoverished, remains their parents. That force made all the Kearney children wealthy in a profound sense.

Fortunate are the children, white or black, rich, poor, or middle class, blessed with parents like James and Ethel Kearney, parents whose vision for their children is fired not by what is immediately before them, but by the deepest longings within them. Those longings got the Kearney kids beyond the long cotton rows, the hungry nights, and the taunts of schoolmates. These children, now grown, are beacons which will shine brightly enough to touch and light the way for others. The Kearneys' love and vision are a blessing for their children and for all the rest of us, too. I'm very glad Janis decided to share it with the world.