Once upon a time, there was a Rookie Lawyer…
Clarence Thomas was born in a shanty with no bathroom and no electricity in the tiny town of Pinpoint, Georgia. Kerosene lamps lit most of the house, except for a single light bulb in the living room. He lived with his mother, Leola, Aunt Annie, younger brother Myers and younger sister Emma Mae. He did not meet his father until he was 9 years old. Clarence spent his days hunting fiddler crabs with Myers in the heavily wooded area of Pinpoint. Shortly after he started school in the town, Myers and Clarence’s cousin were playing with matches and accidentally burned down the shanty house. At that point, Leola took her two boys to live with her in a tiny apartment in Savannah, Georgia. Clarence spent the cold winter in urban squalor sleeping in a chair. Leola could not afford much food, and he recalled the gnawing feelings of hunger. Later, the family moved into a bigger apartment and lived there for a few summer months. One day, Leola announced the boys would live with their grandparents (her father, called “Daddy” and his wife Aunt Tina). She packed the boys up and walked them to a small white house built up on cinder blocks. The children’s scant possessions fit neatly into a grocery bag. To Clarence, the little house felt like a palace. The house had an indoor toilet, a bed for each boy, plenty of food to eat, and milk and soft drinks galore.
