Growing up in Tennessee, it’s interesting to note that in my immediate family of five siblings, including me, I was the only one that didn’t drop out of high school. I’ve thought about this many times over the years. Since I’m the oldest, many ask why my siblings didn’t follow in my footsteps.
Maybe riding on the back of the bus with shirt factory workers (round trip) 32 miles a day to the county seat was too much. We caught the bus at 6 a.m. and didn’t arrive back home until around 5 p.m.
Though there were so many things missing at our high school like a library, science lab, typing, higher level math, music, art, physical education, vocational education and textbooks handed down from the white high school, the thought of dropping out of school never entered my mind.