A First Time of Everything: A Story of a Black Woman Public Servant

While growing up in a large South Carolina sharecropper family, Sallie Peak learned the importance of using her voice to speak up, working hard, and advocating for her family and community. But little did she know that those valuable traits would eventually gift her with the fortitude and vision to create a new path of opportunity for other black girls and women. In a fascinating narrative, Peak shares insight into her childhood and beyond as she embarked on a coming-of-age journey in the 1970s when Spartanburg County was partially segregated, black children still walked to school while white children rode the bus, and female leadership was not encouraged or welcomed. As she leads others through her experiences, Sallie reveals how she, a blue collar worker, dared to step outside the box and set down a rewarding and sometimes challenging path as a public servant and the first black woman to achieve many accomplishments. A First Time for Everything is a true tale of endurance and resilience as a determined black girl transformed into a dedicated public servant in the face of degrading hardship and unequal treatment amid a segregated South.