Arnold Powell

Most Likely To... Arnold Powell

" New York Penn Station, next stop" The conductor announced as he moved through the train. All the passengers in Jay's car began to stir because this is their destination. This is where the dream would begin. All of the Negro passengers on board are a part of the great migration movement from the South to Northern cities. They were seeking to escape the problems of racism and looking for better jobs and a better life. That was the plans and dreams for all except one young man. The year is 1961 and in Charelston S. C., Jayson Austin has just graduated from high school. Jay, an honor student, very popular and affable, is voted most likely to succeed by his classmates. Before plans to enter college in the coming fall, Jay joins the great migration to New York City to work for the summer. Soon after his arrival, circumstances and unforeseen events changes his plans for college. What unfolds is, a tale of life in Harlem, as it existed in the sixties. Jay climbs the ladder of success. He builds a career on Wall Street at a time when Black men did not hold many jobs in the nation's heartbeat, which Wall Street was often called. It is a tale of Jay the opportunist, who uses his charm, personality and smarts to get what he wants. He encounters many characters during his drive to succeed; most were women. While he always had the utmost respect for the opposite sex, Jay had no problem using the love and devotion of women to gain his success. The reader will get a fundamental view of the workings of Wall Street intertwined with a story of love, guile, deceit and the will of a man destined most likely to succeed.