There Are Just So Many

Very Few, If Any, First-generation Black Or White Or Asian Kids Will Pursue A Ph.d. They'll Pursue The Professions For Economic Security. Many Will Go To Law School And/or Business School.

My Earliest Childhood Memory Is Of My Father Going Crazy When The Giants Won The World Series In 1954. He Started Whoopin' And Hollerin' And Jumpin' Up And Down All Around The Living Room. I Started Crying Because He Scared Me To Death.

You Can Find Virtually Everybody Black Back As Far As The 1870 Census. Why 1870? That's When The Ex-slaves First Have Surnames. But If You Find Your Great-great-grandfather In 1870 And It Says He's 50, That Means He Was Born In 1820 And You're Back To 1820 Already. For An American That's Pretty Damned Good, You Know?

In America One Drop Of Black Ancestry Makes You Black.

My Mom, God Rest Her Soul - She Liked Nicknames. In The Womb She Named Me Skip. There Was Another Black Guy In Piedmont, W.va., And His Name Was Skip. They Called Him Big Skip, And I Was Little Skip.