Terry Mc Millan
Keep On Pushing:
How Terry McMillan Got Free At Last
by
kriz bell
Terry Lynn McMillan is the oldest of 5 children. She was born to Madeline Washington and Edward McMillan in Port Huron Michigan October 18, 1951. Her parents were separated when she was young and her father died when she was fourteen years old. She helped her mother raise her siblings, Edwin, Crystal, Vicki and Roslyn. Her childhood memories are full of hard work and family, unhampered by what was missing. She said her mother never let them out of the house looking anything less than brand new. Resourceful from a young age, Terry remembers driving her brother and sisters to school when she was only 14 (it snows a lot in Port Huron) and sewing the clothes they had to have but couldn’t afford to buy.
The McMillans lived out loud (still do), a big family sharing a small house. Terry could clear her head and escape to any number of exotic or far off places via the Port Huron library literature stacks. It was here that young Terry met her first black writer by peering into the bulging eyes of James Baldwin on the back flap of GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN.
Madeline would tolerate nothing less than the highest marks; according to Mama, her daughter was going to college. Terry’s diligent studies earned her a full scholarship at St. Clair Community College in Port Huron. In a rare show of rebellion against her mother’s wishes, Terry refused the financial assistance and moved to Los Angeles instead. She worked in an entertainment law firm as a clerk while attending community college, happy to at least in the proximity of dreams becoming real.
It wasn't long before her mother forgave her and brought her siblings in a U-Haul, relocating the whole family to LA. Terry was creative about helping everybody get settled while she worked and continued her schooling.
Terry soon relocated again, transferring to UC Berkeley. The Black Power renaissance of the late 70’s was as serious as her afro was high. Her time in college was preparation for a career: a job that paid. Terry wanted to become a social worker, a stable job that would also allow her to save the world. Despite her specific focus, like most other college students she found herself drawn in other directions. Compelled to employ words as tools for change, she wrote editorials for the school paper to vocalize her opinions. Words were also the best tool for mending her broken heart. She took a creative class with Professor Ishmael Reed, and could not deny the power of writing. When the time came, she compromised between words and social work and majored in Journalism. She honed research and traditional non-fiction storytelling skills- the editorial form suited her natural outspokenness. She took advantage of every means available to find a home for her ideas, and wrote for the relatively new Essence Magazine. Despite her success, such a conventional approach to expressing herself remained less than satisfying. Terry followed her heart to creative writing, the less conformist outlet for her early twenties angst. Whether she knew it or not, the poems she wrote out of heartbreak and the fiction writing classes she took with Ishmael Reed would determine her course as a writer and have profound repercussions on the publishing world.
For more information about Terry Mc Millan, please visit http://www.terrymcmillan.com