A little black girl witnessed unbridled power, as four white men broke down the front door to her next-door neighbor's home. "Be quiet girl! That's the law," was the only explanation anyone gave her when she asked why? That event ignited within her a desire to become a lawyer. All of this unfolded in the Strawberry Mansion section of North Philadelphia, an impoverished neighborhood where the sweetness of strawberries did not invoke a sense of well-being; and the people who lived there never expected to set foot in any ...
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A little black girl witnessed unbridled power, as four white men broke down the front door to her next-door neighbor's home. "Be quiet girl! That's the law," was the only explanation anyone gave her when she asked why? That event ignited within her a desire to become a lawyer. All of this unfolded in the Strawberry Mansion section of North Philadelphia, an impoverished neighborhood where the sweetness of strawberries did not invoke a sense of well-being; and the people who lived there never expected to set foot in any mansion. This was the 1950s. The Civil Rights Movement was gaining momentum. She had no idea that little girls weren't expected to become lawyers when they grew up. When The Unlikely Are Chosen is a memoir that exposes a time when many hurdles were placed in the paths of marginalized and economically disadvantaged children--especially girls, who aspired beyond entrenched boundaries. Remnants of that time still remain. It also underscores the importance of fatherhood, family and the vision required within the village to raise a child, not just to become a lawyer, but to prepare for life.
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