A Little Girl Who Can't Read Writes a Book and Brings the Shoney's Corporation to Its Knees

Christine Williams was born, sixth out of eight children, to a very modest family in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1960. When she was in the first grade, Williams was among the first to be integrated into a White school, where instead of learning, she was expected to wash the classroom windows, take out the trash, mop the floor, and dust. When Williams entered the first grade, her race was used against her due to an all-White school and integration. After many humiliations in the classroom, Williams finally gave up on school when she was fifteen.

While school was bad, life was no better at home. There, her days were fraught with dysfunction and tension. To cope, Williams often went out to the back porch, sat on the steps, and talked to God.