Condoleezza Rice - Early Life

Early Life

Rice was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the only child of Angelena (née Ray) Rice, a high school science, music, and oratory teacher, and John Wesley Rice, Jr., a high school guidance counselor and Presbyterian minister. Her name, Condoleezza, derives from the music-related term, con dolcezza, which in Italian means, "with sweetness". Rice has roots in the American South going back to the pre-Civil War era, and some of her ancestors worked as sharecroppers for a time after emancipation. Rice discovered on the PBS series Finding Your Roots that she is of 51% African, 40% European and 9% Native American or Asian genetic descent, while her mtDNA is traced back to the Tikar people of Cameroon. Rice grew up in the Titusville neighborhood at a time when the South was racially segregated.

Read more about this topic:  Condoleezza Rice

Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:

    When first we faced, and touching showed
    How well we knew the early moves ...
    Philip Larkin (1922–1986)

    Even through the hollow eyes of death
    I spy life peering.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)