My mother was a teacher, my grandfather was a preacher and teacher, my grandmother was the community's midwife and my father was a musician. The games we played centered around the careers of family members and family friends. Our favorite games were playing teacher, preacher, salesperson, waitress, making music and of course, doctor and nurse.

I remember when we were little; my grandmother would go into town to collect her money from the people whose babies she delivered. Some people would pay her with chickens and vegetables and very little money. My mother had a part time job in a restaurant and my father was somewhere playing his guitar. That left all the kids, 22 of us, at home on Saturday with the older kids (14 to 17) supervising the younger kids. It was at that time we would play our favorite games. This was the day we would play church to include preaching, singing in the choir and there would be a huge dinner. Long time ago people would have big dinners at church. My big cousins decided they would have this big church dinner. I remember they killed my grandmother's favorite laying hen. They did a pretty good job taking off the feathers; however, the inside was left in since we were not allowed to use the sharp knives. They cooked and cooked that hen but could not get it done. That was one tough bird. Since we could not eat it, they decided to have a funeral and bury the hen. My Uncle Booker "T" preached the funeral. Our grandparents did not appreciate any of this, but those were exciting times for us.

My grandparents raised animals (cows, pigs and chickens) for food. They let me have one of the pigs as a pet. I took very good care of my pet. I did not see my pet as food. When I came home from school one day my father had butchered my pet pig. That was a very sad time for me.

A very scary time happened on a Saturday night. We heard the blaring of car horns. We rushed to the front porch and I saw ghosts driving cars and waving flags. We were terrified, my mother was crying, we were all crying. My mother told us later that they were not ghosts but the KKK was waving the Confederate Flag. That scene has never left me as I still see it often and I still get an eerie feeling each time I see it. By the way, one of our citizens, an African American, was found hanging from a street sign the day after that frightful Saturday night.

Our lives changed after that frightening experience. We were very sheltered by our family and the adults around us. Many members moved to northern cities to escape the hardships and abuse we were faced with. My mother believed we should stay put and bloom where we were. She provided experiences that colored my life. We traveled to larger cities in South Carolina and Georgia. I liked to visit an aunt that lived in Columbia in Allen/Benedict Court in the summer time. We traveled in small circles and saw some of the same people. Every now and then we had cousins visit from New York.

I graduated from high school in a very small class. We were all friends who lived in the same area and who did things together like going on picnics, bike riding, and playing cards. Our mother would take us to the movies and of course we would sit up stairs. It was these types of experiences that colored my life and helped to shape my future.
My mother did not want us out late, we were in the house by sundown and she was at home with us. It was a critical time, but if you wanted to protect your family that was what you had to do. I actually enjoyed growing up in a small town and enjoyed who I was. I still have a wonderful sister and a brother and wonderful cousins. Growing up in Blackville was sometimes hard because my father left us to go to Miami, FL to play in a band and my mother seemed so sad at times. I was almost happy when he left because he was not always a nice man. I saw him hit my mother many times and he didn't really provide for our family. When my dad left us, I really missed the music he played and I guess I missed him a little too. I had a lot of anger at that time because I thought it wasn't fair for him to leave us. However, he left us with his music inside us. We inherited his talent for singing. My sisters and I formed a trio called the "Brooks Sisters," and we enjoyed singing in churches and at other events on weekends. We didn't worry about things that we didn't have...we just did what we had to do. My mother was just one great person. She did so many things for us and with us. We didn't want for much, except the freedom to be all we could be.

I always knew I would graduate from college, and I knew it would be the same college my uncle, mother, and her best friend attended and graduated. I attended Vorhees College, Benedict College, Temple University, and the University of South Carolina. I met my wonderful husband at Benedict College and we were married on our graduation day. Today, fifty-five years later, we have two grown children, nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.