Born in 1936, in New Orleans Louisiana on the 18th day of December, I was the first in a family of two boys and a girl. For most of my childhood, I was led to believe that Christmas, the holiest of holidays, was my birthday. Consequently, I always received Christmas presents in lieu of birthday presents. Somehow, now that I look back, I was never the recipient of a birthday party. My family, like many southern black families of the era, especially in Louisiana, was descendants of a multitude of ethnic diversities. My mother was a Creole domestic servant...more