Faye Whatley Thompson was born and raised in the Deep South during a time that racial integration and segregation issues were beginning to explode into more serious problems. The year that she graduated in 1954, the law had changed that gave black people the right to go to a school of their choice. Her family had hired "colored" maids since she was a small child so her parents could work outside the home. She and many others saw how the local colored people were put to the test, w