والده جيمس -الذي كان والده عبداً- كان كاتب في خدمة السكك الحديدية في مكتب بريد في الولايات المتحدة، في حين والدته اليزابيث عملت كمدرّسة.
His father, James, whose own father had been a slave, was employed as a clerk in the Railway Service of the United States Post Office, while his mother, Elizabeth, worked as a schoolteacher.