“Finding Me,” the memoir by Rhode Island state flower Viola Davis, goes on sale this Tuesday, and it includes a searing account of her life growing up in Central Falls. Not surprisingly, it’s an Oprah pick and she has this excerpt:
We were “po.” We almost never had a phone. Often, we had no hot water or gas. We had to use a hot plate, which increased the electric bill. The plumbing was shoddy, so the toilets never flushed. Actually, I don’t ever remember toilets working in our apartments. I became very skilled at filling up a bucket and pouring it into the toilet to flush it. And with our gas constantly being cut off because of nonpayment, we would either go unwashed or would just wipe ourselves down with cold water.
It was a different kind of awful outside where bullies made her life miserable, assaulting her as she tried to walk to school. But Davis persevered, working her way through the theater program at Rhode Island College, and is currently the only African-American actor with the Triple Crown: an Oscar, a Tony, and an Emmy. And she has been very generous to her hometown. She’s just remarkable and Rhode Islanders should be so proud of her.
If you can’t wait till tomorrow, the Sunday New York Times ran a profile of Davis last weekend.
(Don’t shop online — patronize one of our excellent independent bookstores.)
