Dr. Tiffany Thames-Copeland is . . .

. . . among the 13th generation in her family to be born in the territory eventually known as the United States of America. She is the 7th generation since her first enslaved ancestor was born on American soil; and she is among the first generation of this line to be born in Chicagoland, all others were natives of Mississippi.

Her relatives came of age in the Jim Crow South. Both of her grandfathers were illiterate. Her paternal grandparents were sharecroppers; they escaped sharecropping in the middle of the night to avoid being murdered, leaving Little Rock for Meridian in 1937. Her parents migrated to Chicago during the Great Migration in 1969 in search of a better life; they become successful entrepreneurs.

Education was of primary importance to her family. Her parents enrolled her in private schools. Dr. Tiffany is now a second-generation college graduate. She is the first person in her family to earn a Ph.D. from her maternal side, and the second from the paternal side, truly earning the title, "Dr. Tiffany". She is also the first one in her family, post-slavery, to walk again on the African soil from which they stem. 
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She is grateful for her experiences and opportunities, and for all those--most of who she would never know personally--who fought for others and on her behalf. 
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