Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In preparing to write this biography, I read those of several other Festschrift honorees.I was impressed and humbled by their accomplishments but also noted many were fortunate to begin their careers from a position of privilege.My story is not one that started from privilege.I was born in Detroit, Harper Woods, on Hawthorne St.I lived there until age 5, where my earliest memories are sitting on the hill of an under-construction I-94 watching the drag races that took place throughout the summer.I had three younger sisters, my mom, who was a stay-at-home mother in the late 1950s, and my father, a tool and die maker.My parents divorced when I was 5 and we, my three sisters and my mom, moved in with my great aunt Lucy in New Haven, Michigan�a foundry town about 35 miles north of Detroit.Mom only had a high school education but set about raising the four of us and pursuing her teaching certificate from Wayne State University while working odd jobs to contribute to our expenses.In the years that followed, through grade school, we struggled, eating army surplus canned foods, but enjoyed regular trips to Wayne State when my mom was in evening classes, and occasional treats of eating out at White Castle.I really had fond memories of their small, onion-laden burgers and after finding myself back in Michigan at U of M in 2008 I tried them again� not the burger-treats of my youth.During these years, my life was filled with strong female role models who significantly shaped and influenced me in ways I only later appreciated.My mom, who showed all of us kids her tremendous strength, determination, and love of learning, my Aunt Lucy, a retired telephone company operator who shared her home with us, my Aunt Laura, who taught in the New Haven schools and was a source of uncountable Sunday family dinners, Gloria Morrison (now Lamey), who befriended my mom early after our move to New Haven, was my first grade teacher, and was a life-long friend to my mom and all of us kids, and my fourth grade teacher Mrs. McGee, an early crush of mine.I am still in contact with Gloria, who celebrated her 100th birthday this May.As all strongly influenced my outlook and aspirations in life, I am indebted to them for this early shaping.This is not to say I was the "perfect" child or student.I recall one of my first existential discussions with Mrs. Morrison, when I protested the arbitrary and random naming of objects, arguing that while although people recognized an object as a chair, that was a random assignment that could just as validly be termed a table or a bed�I think I was often chastised for both eating in my chair (the table) and sleeping in class (the bed).I too remember disappearing from Aunt Lucy's gaze to find my place under the
Author: Charles L. Brooks
Institution: University of Michigan
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4412779195