Charlene Pritchett-Stevenson

I loved Spelman, although they called it, you know, a ranky-dank school. university or college because it was, you know, for people who had money. Well, I didn't have any money. I went on a hope and a prayer.

And ultimately, I found Spelman was a working school. There were as many people there working as I was. Working your way through college. A joyous adventure. It didn't take long for her teachers to notice her. And I met two people, Miss May Neptune of Ohio, Miss Fern Rockefeller. And when you go to Spelman, if you got to meet somebody, meet a Rockefeller.

And it just enlarged me, and I was into everything.

It seemed like it was a type of jealousy. And when Nana would tell, you know, she was talking about wanting to go to school, and she said she kind of made her think that she was high-minded to have those aspirations of wanting to go off to school. Why don't you just, you know, do what you're doing, taking care of houses and things of that nature and the children?

You know, you're a little colored girl. You don't need to be thinking about that. That was the thing that she would tell her.

And that's why she was always talking about paying it forward. She always wanted to give back because people helped her in her life. And so she felt it an honor and a duty to do the same.

You ain't married to nobody but the law. I tell a lot of women law students that. We took men's places.

I got me a nice little apartment. Everything's going on well. And here they say, Robin, where you study at? I said, I study in my home. Where you study at? Because you seem to have a grip on this thing. I said, bring your own sandwiches.

I can't even imagine how it would feel that you're with your children and someone humiliates you in front of them and there is nothing that you can do.

So, of course, when they got there and Grandma's legs were swollen, Mama was crying. As soon as she saw me, she started these tears. That's the way she worked me, you know. She knew I was going to fly off, which I did.

And that, I think, is what propelled her, really, to fight for justice and motivated her to do what she had to do to make change, to bring about a positive change, to make a difference.

I decided to file a suit against the Southern Railroad for all I could get.

Her father died when she was young, very young, and so her grandmother raised them.

They struggled financially. Even if you didn't have, they always came up with a better way of doing something. And you know, even though you may have been poor, it was the love that pushed them forward. It was the love and the nurture and the security. It was safety in that house. It was that bond. that family had, that they prayed together.

They believed in the scriptures and what they were taught from the Sunday school and from church. So they were, to me, they were rich.

She was smart, she was very smart, very brilliant mind, and she understood things. But she was a very beautiful woman. She was small, had long curly hair, beautiful skin, almost olive skin.

She loved her grandmother. Her grandmother was very strict, but she showed her her love for the Lord. And she was a very independent woman. She wanted her to reach her full potential.

She could squeeze a dollar until it turned to ten. And I don't care what your needs were, that dollar was going to become a ten dollar bill. And then she'd go to the market and she would get it changed in and bring back a ten dollar bill for you to see.

Grandma Rachel would make lye soap and just taught her different things about survival.

He was trying to attack her, and he just tore her clothes off her. And she fought him.

But he beat her in one of the scars on her leg. She took to her grave.

Her feet were just big, just swollen, and she didn't get treatment, you know. Well, I guess there was no treatment for that.

The foot was very bad and it never healed. And she kind of walked with a limp from then on.

Grandma didn't show any fear. So I think, to me, that was instilled in her, even though we do have fears, we struggle with things.

And for Dovey... It gave me the opportunity to get mad. if you can comprehend that. I wanted to do something. And I like to think in my legal career, I did do something to right injustice.