South Carolina is my home state and I am the aunt, granddaughter, daughter, and sister of Baptist ministers(牧师). The church was a center of Black children's social 1 and caring Black adults were buffers(缓冲) against the segregated(种族隔离的) and hostile outside world that told us we weren't 2. But our parents said it wasn't so, our teachers said it wasn't so, and our ministers said it wasn't so. The 3 of my childhood was clear: let no man or woman 4 on you, and look down on no man or woman.
We couldn't play in public playgrounds or sit at drugstore lunch counters and 5 a Coke，so Daddy built a playground and canteen behind the church. In fact, whenever he saw a need, he tried to 6. There were no Black homes for the aged in Bennestsville, so he began one across the street for which he and Mama and we children cooked and 7 and cleaned.
We learned early what our parents and extended community “parents” valued. Children were 8—not by sermonizing(说教), but by personal example—that 9 was too lowly to do. I remember a debate my parents had when I was eight or nine as for 10 I was too young to go with my older brother, Harry，to help clean the bed and bedsores of a very sick，poor woman. I went and learned just how much the 11 helping hands and kindness can mean to a person in need.
The adults in our churches and community made children feel 12 and important. They took time and paid attention to us. They tried to find ways to keep us busy. And 13 life was often hard and resources 14 ， we always knew who we were and that the 15 of our worth was inside our heads and hearts and not outside in our possessions or on our backs. We were told that the 16 had a lot of problems; that Black people had an extra lot of problems; but that we were able and 17 to struggle and change them; that being poor was no 18 for not achieving; and that extra intellectual and material gifts brought 19 them the privilege and responsibility of sharing with others less 20.
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