Richard was born in 1945 in Union Springs, Alabama. His family moved North in 1956 to better opportunities.

On his experiences in Alabama as a child: “The prejudice and lack of money; it was horrible. I remember getting chased from the white neighborhood back to our neighborhood because we were selling blackberries, trying to make fifteen or twenty cents. They chased us; adults and children.”

On life in Cleveland: “I was glad to be here. It was the difference between night and day. I was having proper clothes to wear, which I didn’t have in Alabama.”