ABSTRACT
Fear of violence by her father left Tracy no option but to run away from home as a young teen. Sweet sixteen found her living in a luxury hotel in Los Angeles as mistress to a big gambler, terrified and pregnant by her boyfriend back in Oakland. He pressured her to have the baby, believing it would be good for her because it would “slow her down.”" But by then, she had seen enough of both the promise of money and the limitations of poverty to know what she wanted. She wanted freedom. She did’tt want to be tied down as her mother was, having children by different fathers, entering early adulthood with tots already in tow, and jeopardizing her chance of a h higher education and good earnings later in life.
