As Mary Waters speaks of carrying water home from a well, one cannot help but
love her. “Yes, we went to wells and springs with buckets to get our water. We had
electricity. We had a fireplace. Daddy used to go out and cut wood. We later got a
heater,” she says.
Even in high school, her classmates recognized her quiet strength and
determination. She was a very good student, loved to read and never wanted to
miss school because she kept her eye on the prize, graduation.
After graduation, Mary boarded a bus for Detroit “the city that sets the tone for the
rest of urban America” and left her family behind.
“I remember the day I got on that bus to Detroit, all by myself. My mother said,
‘Don’t go there and get wild, or get on drugs.’ It was difficult to leave my family.
I needed to come to a place like Detroit, but on the Greyhound bus I was crying
the whole time. My entire family stood there to send me off. My mom and dad
didn’t know where they were sending their little girl. I wanted to make them
proud.”
CONT’D