Built from Pain: The Cost of Summer Time Grind
By: Randolph Hart
07/15/2025
Summer Break.
Beach Day Source: Elizeu Dias
For most people, it's time for pool parties, beach days, and long nights with no alarms. But for me? Summer is war. Summer means sweat. It means 4:30 a.m. alarms, aching knees, double shifts, and pushing through when nobody’s watching. It's long days on the clock and longer nights in the gym, while others are chilling. It's feeling pain and pushing past it, not because I’m trying to be a superhero, but because I want to be a man who stands for something. Because I believe in where I'm going, even if no one else can see it yet. I want to build a life I can be proud of. A name that means something.
That decision isn’t always glamorous. It’s hard. It’s lonely. It hurts. And it’s exactly what so many HistoryMakers before experienced. Their stories remind me that I’m not the first to trade ease for excellence. That pain builds people.
Pain That Builds You.
There were nights I've looked in the mirror and cried, crying myself to sleep, hating the reflection because I wasn’t where I wanted to be. Not because I wasn't strong, but because I didn't feel seen. But I knew I couldn’t stop. I still showed up. For work. For workouts. For myself. Not for applause, but because I believe in the future I’m grinding toward.
I chose the grind, just like those before me. Singer Ruby Wilson talks about picking cotton in Texas as a teenager.
“We didn’t really know about no politics. We would pick cotton and go to school, every day. Every day the whole summer we would pick cotton…It was the only way to survive.”
Music arranger, music director, and conductor, Benjamin Wright, describes chopping cotton and avoiding snakes with his father:
“Some families had to chop cotton. It was the only way they could get money. Survival, and chopping cotton in most cases was maybe $3 a day. So if they had the whole family out there, you know what I’m saying, you might make 12, 15 dollars.”
Picking Cotton Source: The New York Public Library
These weren’t summer jobs for some extra spending money. These were jobs for survival. That’s what hard summers used to mean to the HistoryMakers. And honestly? That’s what they still mean to me.
Major General Nathaniel James describes the hard life of working on the railroad:
“My father used to tell me...you work so hard in the heat, and one night you’ll start seeing everything start dancing. That’s when you were getting ready to pass out. But take a drink of cold water and then go back to work.” “It was a hard life. But as a kid you don’t know what a hard life is, you just live it.”
Taught Hard Work.
As I reflect on all the hard days, I’ve now learned what many HistoryMakers already knew. Hard work pays off.My drive didn’t come from nowhere. It came from watching my parents. Two people who showed me that hard work is not just expected, it's required. They made discipline look normal and sacrifice look easy. They showed me what it means to get up when you don’t feel like it. To give your best even when no one is looking. To do the job right because your name is attached to it. They didn't just raise me, they built me. And I'll never forget that.When I hear these HistoryMakers speak, I don’t just hear their stories; I see a reflection of mine. Their aching hands in my sore legs. Their quiet commitment in my daily grind. It reminds me that I’m not alone. I’m not starting from scratch. I’m standing on foundations built by men and women who didn’t quit. And just like them, I’ve decided that struggle won’t break me. It will build me.
Television host and political science professor Melissa Harris-Perry shares the lessons she learned from her father:
“What Harrises do is work.” “We are courageous people and we are hard-working people.” “Even after he got a terminal diagnosis, they basically had to kick him off the job. He wanted to go to work. He wanted to provide for his family.” “The idea that you are meant to be courageous and you are meant to work hard. Those were critical lessons we learned.”)”
Architect and corporate chief executive Louis Jones describes his father's work at The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company:
“He told his parents that when he migrated to the North that he was going to raise a family, work hard for fifty years, and never have it said that he was late or that he was absent from work. And he did it for forty-five years, and then something happened, and he was late. And so he always had a reputation for being extremely hardworking.”
Association chief executive and school superintendent, Mattelia B. Grays remembers her father's hardworking nature:
“I saw him maintain a house on little money and maintain a car because the man he worked for loved him, and even during World War II when nobody could get a refrigerator, when his boss would get a new refrigerator, we got one too.” “A very, very genuine, hardworking family provider who thought there was nothing too good for his children.”
Lawyer Billy Martin describes his parents' personalities and who he takes after:
Old Rusty Clock Source: Samuel Hagger
“My dad would be up at five thirty, out the door at six thirty, he punched a clock. And he was never late, no excuses, I learned early on, you gotta go to work. So, I think I take that from my dad.”
”And my mom was very polished, she always was very well dressed, and helped me to become very dapper in my dress. And very well-mannered, I would learn you know how to set a table, I would learn how to properly make a bed. A lot of my etiquette I learned by watching her serve and handle, elaborate dinner parties at these mansions.”
Legacy Is In My Blood.
Three Hart Men Source: Tamicka Hart
I am Randolph Joseph Hart IV
That number isn’t just a formality; it’s a reminder. That I am the product of men who endured, men who sacrificed, men who refused to let their family name die in mediocrity.
Architect and corporate chief executive Louis Jones describes his father's work at The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company
“They would walk up to me and say, “Okay, this here is Art Jones’ [Arthur Jones] son, and you know Art Jones is the hardest working guy in this place. Now Louis [Louis Jones], all you got to do is F up.”
“Then they just turn me loose, you know. So, I had his rep [reputation] to live up to, and so I had to be there on time and do whatever they told me”
I grind because I’m carrying more than my dreams. I’m carrying theirs. And I refuse to let their legacy die.
Work Is Hard. Work Is Good. Work Is Fair.
Too many people my age see hard work as punishment. But not me. I believe work is hard, but it is fair. You get what you put in. And you become what you earn. Work teaches you what comfort can’t.
Investment banker Christopher Williams describes his father:
“You have to be willing to rewrite the playbook and do whatever you need to do to make sure you can take care of yourself or accomplish whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish.”
Physicist and academic administrator Walter E. Massey remembers his father:
“He raised us, both my brother and I, fairly with a strict set of rules of behavior, but most importantly was the preparation, hard work, and living a life that was sort of free from character faults.”
This isn’t just my story, it’s OUR story. Mine, my parents, and the HistoryMakers who came before us. The people in the archive didn’t just work hard; they worked through. They took what they had, even if it wasn’t much, and built something greater with it. That’s what I am doing now and what my generation should strive for. Every early morning, every long shift, every silent prayer, when no one is around. It’s me honoring them. I am not just chasing my dreams, I am continuing their legacy. Carrying their lessons, their grit, their standard. And I refuse to let that go to waste.
Built From Pain
This generation still has it in us. We just have to stop avoiding the pain and start learning from it. Working through it. Building with it. I don’t work hard because it looks good. I work hard because it feels right. I feel at peace with the grind. I feel a purpose in the suffering for something bigger than me. I feel powerful when I know I gave it my all.
Business chief executive Terry Jones describes his summer jobs growing up:
“Our full-time job was going to school. Our parents [Enolia Bowman Jones and Elmer Jones] made that clear. If we wanted the new pair of shoes or the, or the latest pants, go earn it, go cut some grass, shovel some snow, go down to the local grocery store and bag some groceries.”
“We didn’t have to work, to support ourselves, but we had to work to get things we wanted and to learn the value of work.”
Headed to School Source: TopSphere Media
I want my life to mean something. To echo the names that came before me. To open doors for the names that’ll come after. I want to live with intention. To be respected not for what I have but for who I am. To be built from the pain.
Built to Last.
I was taught to respect hard work by two parents who made sacrifices look like second nature. They worked when they didn’t have to. They gave when they didn’t have much. They made sure I understood to never stop until the job is finished. That same spirit runs through so many of the HistoryMakers I’ve listened to. Their stories don’t start with fame; they start by watching their loved ones come home tired. With the understanding that work builds character before it builds wealth.
Newspaper columnist and editor, N. Don Wycliff, discusses blacksmithing with his grandfather during the summer:
“Sometimes I thought, how does this old man keep going cause he was getting up there [age]. But he was a hard working man, and made me the same I guess”
Association chief executive and school superintendent, Mattelia B. Grays, remembers her father's hardworking nature:
“He was very creative, ambitious, and a workaholic. And many, many times we thought that because he wanted the best for his family, always.”
Sunday’s Best Source: Trust "Tru" Katsande
Lawyer Billy Martin talks about his father’s work ethic:
“My dad is a no-nonsense, hardworking, rough and tumble millworker. To put myself through college, my dad helped me get jobs at the steel mills. So, during the summers between college and breaks, he helped me get jobs at the steel mill. And I put my steel-toed shoes on, and you know, get into the mill, and I had a chance to you know watch my dad. And so, I think I have a lot of my work ethic is my dad.”
Dirty Hands Source: Chris Yang
Civil rights activist and city government official The Honorable Carl Snowden remembers his playmate's father, Mr. Marshall:
“Tommy loved his father. He just held his father in such great esteem. His father Mr. Marshall was a very hardworking man and very strong.”
I remember seeing Mr. Marshall hook up a plow to his back and plow up the field and he would put calves on his shoulders, he would just an incredibly hardworking man.”
This story isn’t just about me. It’s about all of us who were built by the sacrifices we didn’t see, the struggles we didn’t live through, but that still shaped our paths. The HistoryMakers didn’t just endure hard summers so we could write about them, they endured so we could live better because of them. Every opportunity I fight for, every value I hold tight, every moment I refuse to quit, it’s all rooted in the hard work they dedicated their lives to. Their words weren’t just stories to me; they were instructions. A blueprint. Proof that pain can produce power. I didn’t just hear them. I felt them. And that’s why I keep going, because the same way the HistoryMakers poured into me, I want to pour into the future. And I hope you want to do the same…
Sources:
1. Benjamin Wright (The HistoryMakers A2007.146), interviewed by Paul Brock, April 18, 2007, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 7, Benjamin Wright describes chopping cotton and avoiding snakes with his father
2. Terry Jones (The HistoryMakers A2012.064), interviewed by Larry Crowe, June 13, 2012, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 3, story 3, Terry Jones describes his summer jobs growing up
3. N. Don Wycliff (The HistoryMakers A2003.050), interviewed by Larry Crowe, March 17, 2003, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 6, Don Wycliff discusses blacksmithing with his grandfather during the summer
4. Nathaniel James (The HistoryMakers A2012.200), interviewed by Larry Crowe, July 31, 2012, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 4, Nathaniel James describes the hard life of working on the railroad
5. Ruby Wilson (The HistoryMakers A2010.093), interviewed by Larry Crowe, July 30, 2010, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 6, Ruby Wilson talks about picking cotton as a teenager in Texas
6. Chester Higgins Jr. (The HistoryMakers A2005.205), interviewed by Shawn Wilson, August 26, 2005, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 8, Chester Higgins, Jr. recalls working in cotton and peanut fields
7. Ray F. Wilson (The HistoryMakers A2007.232), interviewed by Larry Crowe, August 11, 2007, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 8, Ray F. Wilson remembers picking cotton
8. Vincent Lane (The HistoryMakers A2012.015), interviewed by Larry Crowe, January 18, 2012, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 7, Vincent Lane talks about his mother's feelings on race and his memories of visiting Mississippi in the summers
9. Mattelia B. Grays (The HistoryMakers A2008.044), interviewed by Denise Gines, March 11, 2008, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 4, story 5, Mattelia B. Grays remembers her father's hardworking nature
10. Oliver Baker (The HistoryMakers A2013.068), interviewed by Larry Crowe, March 10, 2013, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 3, story 9, Oliver Keith Baker describes his experience attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
11. Christopher Williams (The HistoryMakers A2013.286), interviewed by Julieanna Richardson, November 11, 2013, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 5, Christopher Williams describes his father
12. Louis Jones (The HistoryMakers A2010.030), interviewed by Thomas Jefferson, May 27, 2010, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 8, Louis Jones describes his father's work at The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company
13. Melissa Harris-Perry (The HistoryMakers A2014.203), interviewed by Julieanna L. Richardson, September 12, 2014, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 5, Melissa Harris-Perry shares the lessons she learned from her father, pt. 2
14. Walter E. Massey (The HistoryMakers A2002.023), interviewed by Julieanna L. Richardson, March 13, 2002, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 3, Walter Massey remembers his father
15. Solomon Brown Watson IV (The HistoryMakers A2005.245), interviewed by Shawn Wilson, October 27, 2005, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 3, story 2, Solomon Brown Watson, IV remembers Military Police Officer Basic School at Fort Gordon, Georgia
16. The Honorable Carl Snowden (The HistoryMakers A2011.038), interviewed by Julieanna L. Richardson, December 9, 2011, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 8, The Honorable Carl Snowden remembers his playmate's father, Mr. Marshall
17. Billy Martin (The HistoryMakers A2010.065), interviewed by Larry Crowe, June 25, 2010, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 9, Billy Martin describes his parents' personalities and who he takes after