My mother is from Compton, California, but my father is from Hayneville, Alabama, and that's less than 20 miles from Selma.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I didn't have to learn Selma to make 'Selma.' I didn't have to research what kind of place this is. The people I love most in the world live in that part of the country.
My mother was from Mississippi, or is from 'Mississippi;' my father was from Alabama. He speaks about conditions in Mississippi and Alabama. They were really the poster children for the bad public laws that segregated, according to race, in our country.
I'm from Dallas. My whole family is based in Texas and Mississippi and Arkansas, spread throughout most of the South.
I was born in Evanston, about three blocks away from the Chicago border. My mother, at the time, was finishing her Ph.D. in African History at Northwestern University. Soon after my birth, my parents split, and my father moved to Wicker Park, which is on the north side of the city.
I was born in Sacramento but moved to Los Angeles with my mom and my little sister when I was seven.
I was raised in Maryland. My mom was born in London, and my dad was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
My family is from Elmhurst, Queens, 54th Avenue, but I was born in Northern California.
I grew up in rural Alabama, 50 miles from Montgomery, in a very loving, wonderful family: wonderful mother, wonderful father. We attended church; we went to Sunday school every Sunday.
I grew up in Birmingham, but my parents are originally from Barbados. My dad, Romeo, was a long-distance lorry driver, and my mother, Mayleen, worked in catering.
With 'Selma,' I grew up in Alabama, 45 minutes away from Selma. I have gone to that commemorative march many times with my parents.