Chapter 17: Success is not an Option: Being Raised by a Black Single Teenage Parent

I was born in 1971 to two teenage parents in the southeastern portion of the United States. In that time, it was not acceptable for a young single girl to be pregnant. Even more so, Black families in our rural community did not embrace it. The third of seven children, my mom became a parent as the early age of 17. My father, a standout football player, the prized boy child of this family, was 18 years old at the time of my birth. The two teens married and moved to a large metropolitan city. However, the two soon found their interest and life goals to be remarkably different. My mom, the independent and focused one, sought a more stable environment for herself and me. So, they divorced, and mom relocated back to the rural community where family, friends, and work were readily available to her.