The Christian Science Monitor

Her mother successfully ran numbers in 1970s Detroit

Families have secrets, details that even young children realize must be kept quiet. In that way, growing up in Detroit during the 1960s and ’70s, Bridgett Davis’ family was like everyone else’s. She knew some things remained within the family. Her mother, Fannie Davis, made that clear.

The Davis family’s secret was the means that allowed them to rise into the black middle class, buffering them from some of the harshest experiences

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