Thomas Recalls Grandfather as 'Strongest Person I’ve Ever Known'

Michael Pack: In 1955, you moved to live with your grandparents in Savannah, Georgia. How and why did that happen?

Clarence Thomas: My mother had difficulty with two little boys and working as a maid, which required some unevenness in her hours because not only was she cleaning, she was raising other peoples’ kids. So that meant babysitting and things like that. So she asked my grandparents for help. And my grandmother, who did not have children—she was my mother’s stepmother—suggested that she let her raise these two boys.

And one day, one Saturday morning, we woke up and my mother said, “Put all your things in the grocery bag.” And remember the paper grocery bags in those days. My brother took one and neither one was full. All of our items. Just imagine everything you have, in less than a paper bag. So we took our grocery bag each, and walked the couple of blocks from Henry Lane to East Thirty-Second Street.