Harry Saffold Jr. is a native of Alabama who like most youth enjoyed the norms associated with childhood until he turned ten. It was at that age that Saffold was repeatedly sexually abused by a relative and later once by a neighbor. With no wise approach on how to address the experience, Saffold became a troubled youth. He engaged in drugs, assaultant behavior, shootings, oftentimes contemplating suicide and eventually landed in prison at the age of 19.
At age 32, Saffold was released and set out to lead a normal life, but a life that consisted work, gain and paying those whom he owed. Although residing with his sister at the time, the day arrived when Saffold made the decision to step out and make his own way. Unfortunately, after a layoff due to company closures followed by the continual denial of employment because of his felony conviction, Saffold fell to homelessness. Surfing from one sofa to the next and even found himself laying his head on a slab of concrete beneath the Cottonwood Bridge.
After finding work again, but not yet able to sustain a home, Saffold would lay back on the driver’s seat of his car at 24 hour shopping centers, hospitals and truck stops. Like always, Saffold was welcomed back to his sister’s place and although success seemed distant for him, Saffold stayed the course and today, conveys a message through documentary films, “The Untold Story of Harry Saffold”, “Shoes Without A Closet, and “Hijacked Childhood” all available on YouTube. Saffold is also the author of “When Black Boys Are Left in the Dark” and travels sharing the “People” experience, an experience we all share.
"Writing for me is very rewarding, not only for me, but for others, in that I enjoy telling other people's story. "
"I'm an opened minded young man who can take constructive criticism and jump back in the game with instructions from others. "
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"Greed is not the prize for me, but the drive to fulfill a void in others through my penmanship."
- Harry Saffold, Jr.