NOTE TO NEW READERS:
This is the original first, legacy edition of Oakland Hills, Milwaukee Rivers by Dr. Keyimani Alford.

It remains available for workshop, classroom, and legacy use, and includes foundational stories of survival, resilience, identity, and purpose that have impacted readers across the country.

If you're looking for the expanded, updated version of this memoir with 11 new chapters, four powerful sections, and deeper reflections, search for: “Oakland Hills, Milwaukee Rivers: A Memoir of Survival, Identity, and Purpose – Second Edition”

For trainings, workshops, and collegiate and religious book clubs still referencing the original version, this listing will remain available as the First Edition. This book is also a companion to the Oakland Hills, Milwaukee Rivers Workbook: A Guide to Faith and Biblical Application.

REVIEW THE INFORMATION BELOW FOR A DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRST EDITION

Before the full truth was revealed, this was the version that broke the silence.

Oakland Hills, Milwaukee Rivers is the powerful first edition of Dr. Keyimani L. Alford’s groundbreaking memoir—a story of resilience, survival, and purpose that invites readers into the earliest telling of a life shaped by trauma, transformation, and truth.

Told with raw emotion and unflinching honesty, this edition captures the original voice of a young Black boy growing up between two cities—Oakland, California and Milwaukee, Wisconsin—while navigating the complex realities of family separation, father absence, addiction, religious shame, and hidden identity. With each chapter, Dr. Alford reflects on what it meant to survive when you were never supposed to make it, and how storytelling became a lifeline.

The Hills represent the uphill battles—the trauma, silence, expectations, and emotional weight he had to climb.
The Rivers represent everything that flowed beneath the surface—unspoken fears, suppressed identity, complicated faith, and the determination to find his way forward.

This book is more than a personal memoir—it’s a mirror for anyone who’s ever felt stuck, silenced, or on the edge of giving up. It’s for the people who are still climbing, still wading through pain, still trying to find their way out of the past and into a life filled with meaning.

Readers of this First Edition will:

This version doesn’t include everything that came later. It doesn’t try to.
It’s the version that spoke when it hurt to speak.
Unfiltered. Undeniable. And still standing.

Whether you’re facing personal obstacles, searching for motivation, or simply want a story that tells the truth without shame, this memoir will meet you where you are—and gently push you forward. Through Dr. Alford’s journey, you’ll learn that no matter where you come from or what you’ve endured, your story matters, and you still have time to rise.

By the time you finish this book, you will have gained:

This is the First Edition of Oakland Hills, Milwaukee Rivers. The original. The foundation.

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