Bruce Durost Fish - Terry Mcmillan: Author

In the 1950s and 1960s, most of the adults in Terry's South Park neighborhood worked in local factories or commuted to Detroit to work in the Motor City's auto plants.

Source: David & Peter Turnley/Corbis.

"Dirty, dirty, dirty," is how one woman who worked in a Chrysler supplier plant in New Haven described the work. "[B]ut I made money!"

Although Port Huron wasn't filled with the "Whites Only" signs found in the South, like many places in the North, unwritten rules segregated blacks and whites. Downtown Port Huron contained businesses for the largely white population that lived north of South Park. The only time black people were seen in many neighborhoods was when they were arriving or leaving the homes of wealthy white families where they worked as maids or cooks. A few blacks were able to get jobs as elevator inspectors in local banks, and a small number held positions in retail stores, but in reality African Americans in Port Huron had few employment opportunities outside of the factories.

Terry Lynn McMillan did not remain an only child for long. A little over a year after Terry was born, she was joined by her brother Edwin. Within the next three years, Rosalyn, Crystal, and Vicki were born. The five young children created understandable chaos in the McMillan's home life, but Madeline and "Crook" (as Terry's father was called) added to the instability. Crook McMillan had two serious illnesses: diabetes and alcoholism. Drinking aggravated his diabetes, so Crook, a sanitation worker, often missed work. When this happened, he would get extremely frustrated and beat his wife. Terry has described how her mother would fight back and how the five children "would jump on him to break it up."

Despite being treated so poorly, Madeline McMillan was not willing to give up on her marriage. Although Terry wished her mother would do a better job of defending herself, she respected her mother's strength. "She was smart, bossy, aggressive-a no-nonsense woman," Terry recalled in a 1997 interview with Pam Janis. "She knew what it took to get things done and made sure we knew, too. She had five kids by the time she was 23-that can make or break you. It made her."

To supplement Crook's unreliable income, Madeline got jobs wherever she could, working in factories or cleaning people's homes. When she couldn't find work, she went on welfare. Not able to complete high school herself, Madeline was determined that her children would get a good education. From the time Terry began attending kindergarten at Cleveland Elementary School in South Park, she knew she was expected to do her best. Her first teacher, Mary Goschnik, remembers Terry as a very bright, happy child. "I would call Terry an A-minus student. She was always there, almost never absent. She had an outgoing personality. She was a happy person. All the kids around the neighborhood were friends."

As the oldest McMillan child, Terry took on the responsibility of caring for her younger brother and sisters while her parents worked-cooking their meals, washing their hair, and making sure that they did their homework. Money was always tight. During some cold Michigan winters, the McMillan home went without a phone, heat, or electricity, but they always managed to have food on the table for their growing family. "There were a couple winter nights I remember my teeth chattering," Terry has reported, "But I don't remember ever feeling poor. I hate that word."

Although Michigan winters were often hard for the McMillan family, Terry would later say, "I don't remember ever feeling poor. I hate that word."

Source: Associated Press.

The physical condition of Terry's father continued to deteriorate, and he would be absent for days at a time, often drinking himself into oblivion. At those times when the family was together, the conflicts between Madeline and Crook increased, and the five children saw repeated instances of domestic violence.

"It was almost like it was entertainment for them on Friday nights even though sometimes it got scary," Terry recalled in an interview with