The Great Depression. The South. Young Jacob's story unfolds during a difficult time, in the unforgiving south, a hard place for an African-American boy, Jacob Pete Manor, as he embarks upon his personal journey — his Rite of Passage.

Fourth and final child, born to a family of sharecroppers from the rural area of Fayetteville North Carolina, Jacob uncovers pertinent life truths that involve mother-son over-bonding, betrayal, abandonment, sexual explorations, misconceptions of “manhood,” and other crucial challenges and milestones which ultimately lead Jacob to becoming the man God destined him to be.

Jacob was a dreamer, with very high aspirations, whose ambitions exceeded the scope of what a climate of segregation, inadequate school systems, and a mind set of inferiority dictated for a young African-American male.

BOYS to MEN! The Journey — Rite of Passage —  of protagonist, Jacob Peter Manor.

His successes, failures, and life’s ultimate lessons helped him uncover the true meaning of "manhood." Jacob’s challenges and uniquely orchestrated stages of his life produced a far greater outcome than expected.

Clarence V. Matthews was born and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina — where he completed his elementary, as well as a portion of his high school education. He relocated to New Jersey in 1955 where he completed his high school curriculum and received his diploma at Dickinson High School.

Clarence was married for 31 years before becoming a widower, and is the father of five children. He worked in various capacities in the warehousing, merchandising and manufacturing industries for a span of well over 22 years. He was also licensed as a real estate sales associate for well over 30 years; and is currently employed with the Jersey City Board of Education. He is also a devoted, 50-year, active member of Monumental Baptist Church located in Jersey City, NJ. He has served on the Trustee Board and as the Black History Instructor for just over 20 years.

Clarence began his writing as the Black History Instructor, who wrote and produced black history plays for the church's annual program in celebration of Black History Month. He then transitioned his writing from screenplay to novel and developed a three-part series known as Jacob's Rite of Passage. This trilogy chronicles the life of a young man raised in the South and takes the reader through the three segments (youth, teen and adult) of the life of the protagonist, Jacob Pete Manor.

In March 2010, the first novel, Young Jacob was released and Clarence was introduced as a “new” author. During the promotion of this new release, a rising awareness of the plight of the family surfaced and the "GET RITE" campaign emerged and the overall theme was, "It takes a village to raise a child. It's time to reclaim the village."

The second novel of the series, Teen Jacob, was released in February 2011 and takes the reader into the teen experiences of the main character Jacob. The finale' to the trilogy, The Man Jacob, was published and released in early spring of 2012. Though written as fiction, the real life lessons of God, family, community and MANHOOD emerge from the pages of this storyline.