i was born in clarksdale. my mother was visiting there. i grew up in jackson. i grew up in jackson, mississippi. >> what did your dad do? >> my dad was a chauffeur, and my mother was a cook, she was a chef cook in a restaurant. there were two of us in the family, my sister and i, and we grew up in mississippi during the 1930's and 1940's. >> when did you leave? >> in 1945, i left to go to college. i left to go to atlanta to morehouse college where i finished in 1949 and started working in atlanta for four, five years on the "atlanta daily world," and then i went to chicago to "ebony" magazine. >> where you still are a writer? >> still a writer. >> at "ebony"? >> i'm still there. i worked as editor, senior itor, and now i'm executive editor. >> when you were at morehouse college, what were they telling you about abraham lincoln? and that's an all-bla college. >> it's an all-black college. two things. it's very interesting, very interesting. the most enlightened professors said of course he didn't free the slaves. of course he was a ract. some orthodox professors