Editing Cissy Houston (section)

==Early life==
Emily Drinkard was born on September 30, 1933 in [[Newark, New Jersey]] to Delia Mae "Dee Dee" (née McCaskill) and Nicholas "Nitch" Drinkard, the youngest of eight children.<ref name="famous">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eyfeVZ6jf1oC&dq=cissy+houston+1933&pg=PA275 |title= On This Day in Black Music History - September 30 |author=Warner, Jay |date= 2006 |page=70 |publisher= Hal Leonard Corporation |isbn= 978-0-634-09926-7 |accessdate=October 19, 2024}}</ref><ref name=genealogy>{{Cite news| title= Geni.com: Emily Houston (Drinkard) | date=April 13, 2011 | url= http://www.geni.com/people/Cissy-Houston/6000000012244034206 | access-date=February 11, 2012}}</ref><ref name=mcneil>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=beGNAQAAQBAJ&q=%22cissy+houston%22+born&pg=PA190 | title=Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music| first= W. K.| last= McNeil | page= 190 | publisher= [[Routledge]] / [[Taylor & Francis]] | year=2010 | isbn= 978-0-415-94179-2}}</ref> Houston was the granddaughter of a black [[landowner]] in [[Blakely, Georgia]], who later shared the land he owned with Houston's father Nitch during a time when it was unusual for black people to have large landholdings. The asset was gradually depleted as they sold small portions of land over time, to resolve the continued legal troubles of a close relative, which later led to the entire family relocating to Newark during the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] a decade before Houston's birth.<ref name=ancestry/>  Houston has claimed to be part Dutch and part [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] descent due to her grandparents Susan Bell (née Fuller) and John Drinkard Jr. respectively.<ref name=ancestry>{{Cite news| first= Cissy | last= Houston | title= Visionary Project Video – Cissy Houston: My Family | date=September 2, 2009 | url= http://www.visionaryproject.org/houstoncissy/ | access-date=February 11, 2012}}</ref>

Houston's parents emphasized the children getting educated and being involved in the church.<ref name=ancestry/> Around the time of Houston's fifth birthday, her mother Delia suffered a stroke. To help her recovery, along with raising the family's spirits, Houston's father encouraged Houston and her elder siblings Anne, Nicholas Jr. ("Nicky") and Larry to sing sacred hymns, to which afterwards, they formed The Drinkard Four, singing jubilees in various churches, including their own St. Luke's A.M.E. Church. Three years later, in 1941, Houston lost her mother to [[cerebral hemorrhage]].<ref name=mothergenealogy>{{Cite news| title= Geni.com: Delia Drinkard (McCaskill) | date=April 13, 2011 | url= http://www.geni.com/people/Delia-Drinkard/6000000012243928382 | access-date=February 11, 2012 }}</ref> Houston claimed that she "found Christ" after listening to a sermon at the age of fourteen.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.cbn.com/700club/whitney-houstons-mother-faith-and-loss|title=Cissy Houston details daughter Whitney's decline in new book|date=April 17, 2013 |publisher = CBN.com|access-date=December 28, 2017}}</ref> Houston's father died of [[stomach cancer]] in March 1952 when Houston was 18.<ref name=ancestry/><ref name=fathregenealogy>{{Cite news| title= Geni.com: Nitcholas Drinkard  | date=April 13, 2011 | url= http://www.geni.com/people/Nitcholas-Drinkard/6000000012243550047 | access-date=February 11, 2012 }}</ref> For a time, Houston went to live with her older sister Lee and her husband Mancel Warrick and helped to raise her two nieces [[Dionne Warwick|Dionne]] and [[Dee Dee Warwick|Dee Dee]] and nephew Mancel Jr.<ref>{{cite book|last=Warwick|first=Dionne|title=My Life, as I See It|year=2010|publisher=Atria Books|location=New York |isbn=978-1-4391-7134-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/mylifeasiseeitau0000warw/page/7 7]|url=https://archive.org/details/mylifeasiseeitau0000warw/page/7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Warwick|first=Dionne|title=My Life, as I See It|year=2010|publisher=Atria Books|location=New York |isbn=978-1-4391-7134-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/mylifeasiseeitau0000warw/page/9 9]|url=https://archive.org/details/mylifeasiseeitau0000warw/page/9}}</ref> Soprano [[Leontyne Price]] is a Drinkard cousin.<ref>{{cite book|last=Warwick|first=Dionne|title=My Life, as I See It|year=2012|publisher=Atria Books|location=New York |isbn=978-1-4391-7134-9|url=https://archive.org/details/mylifeasiseeitau0000warw|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Artistopia.com|url=http://www.artistopia.com/dionne-warwick|work=Dionne Warwick|publisher=iCubator Labs LLC.|access-date=April 13, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120506220942/http://www.artistopia.com/dionne-warwick|archive-date=May 6, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> 
 
Houston attended [[Malcolm X Shabazz High School|South Side High School]] where she eventually graduated in 1952.<ref>[http://www.visionaryproject.org/houstoncissy/ Cissy Houston], National Visionary Leadership Project. Accessed December 19, 2019. "After graduating from Newark's South Side High School, she and her group, now The Drinkard Singers, continued performing and were featured on a 1951 program at Carnegie Hall starring Mahalia Jackson."</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/1112081557/ "Rock singer remains near her gospel roots"], ''[[The Star-Ledger]]'', April 7, 1980. Accessed October 7, 2024, via [[Newspapers.com]]. "Houston was graduated from South Side High School and believes that education is important to anyone in the music business."</ref> Raised [[Methodist Episcopal]], Houston converted to [[Baptists|the Baptist faith]] after she joined the [[New Hope Baptist Church (Newark, New Jersey)|New Hope Baptist Church]] at around 19.