Early Life
Jack O'Dell was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1924. O’Dell was raised there by his grandfather, a janitor at a public library, and his grandmother. He attended an all-black college Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans from 1941 until 1943. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Merchant Marines, which functioned as a branch of the military forces for the duration of the conflict. During this time, he joined the National Maritime Union, one of the few racially integrated labor unions in the U.S.
Read more about this topic: Hunter Pitts O'Dell
Famous quotes related to early life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)