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Tavis Smiley
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==Early life== Smiley was born in [[Gulfport, Mississippi]], the son of Joyce Marie Roberts.<ref>{{harvnb|Smiley|2006|p=1}}</ref> On September 13, 1966, his second birthday, his mother married Emory Garnell Smiley, a [[non-commissioned officer]] in the U.S. Air Force.<ref name='HarrisonCoMarr'>{{cite web|title=Harrison β Guflport District, MS |url=http://www.deltacomputersystems.com/cgi-iim4/IIMMCGI2?HTMCNTY=MS241&HTMBASE=C&HTMKEYBOOK=133&HTMKEYPAGE=0128& |work=Marriage License Link |publisher=Harrison County Mississippi |date=January 9, 1997 |access-date=2009-12-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709011727/http://www.deltacomputersystems.com/cgi-iim4/IIMMCGI2?HTMCNTY=MS241&HTMBASE=C&HTMKEYBOOK=133&HTMKEYPAGE=0128& |archive-date=July 9, 2011 }}</ref> A few years later Tavis learned the identity of his biological father, whom he identifies in his autobiography, ''What I Know For Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America'', only as "T".<ref name='WhatIKnowForSure'>{{harvnb|Smiley|2006|pp=49β50}}</ref> Smiley's family soon moved to Indiana when his stepfather was transferred to [[Grissom Air Force Base]] near [[Peru, Indiana]]. On arriving in Indiana, the Smiley family took up residence in a three-bedroom mobile home in the small town of [[Bunker Hill, Indiana]].<ref>{{harvnb|Smiley|2006|p=17}}</ref> The Smileys had three more children and added four more after the murder of Joyce's sister. Initially, four of her five children were cared for by their grandmother (known as "Big Mama"), but ill health impaired her ability, and Joyce and Emory took them in. The trailer home sheltered thirteen, including Tavis and his seven brothers and two sisters and the three adults.<ref>{{cite book|title=Unselfish Love|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=38D5ItitDmgC&q=tavis+%22big+mama%22|work=Keeping the Faith: Stories of Love, Courage, Healing, and Hope from Black America (Google eBook)|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|year=2009|isbn=9781400075935|access-date=August 30, 2019|archive-date=August 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200822000004/https://books.google.com/books?id=38D5ItitDmgC&dq=tavis+%22big+mama%22&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref> Smiley's mother was a deeply religious person, and the family attended the local New Bethel Tabernacle Church, part of the [[Pentecostal Assemblies of the World]].<ref name="CBB">{{cite web|title=Tavis Smiley |url=http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/smiley_t.htm |work=Contemporary Black Biography |publisher=Gale |year=2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516133212/http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/smiley_t.htm |archive-date=May 16, 2011 }}</ref> The Smiley children were forbidden from listening to secular music at home or going to the movie theater, and could watch only television shows their parents felt were family-friendly.<ref>{{harvnb|Smiley|2006|p=48}}</ref> When he was in seventh grade, New Bethel pastor Elder Rufus Mills accused Smiley and his siblings of "running wild, disobeying their teacher, disrespecting their teacher, disrespecting the sanctity of this building, and mocking the holy message being taught" during Sunday School.<ref>{{harvnb|Smiley|2006|p=63}}</ref> According to Smiley's account of the incident, his Sunday School teacher became confused as she was answering questions about the [[Book of John]], and other students "responded by giggling and acting a little unruly," although he and his sister Phyllis "remained quiet".<ref>{{harvnb|Smiley|2006|p=62}}</ref> Garnell whipped Tavis and Phyllis with an [[extension cord]], wounding the two children.<ref>{{harvnb|Smiley|2006|pp=64β65}}</ref> The next day at school, administrators found out about the children's injuries.<ref>{{harvnb|Smiley|2006|pp=66β67}}</ref> The local newspaper in [[Kokomo, Indiana]], reported on the beating and the legal proceedings against Garnell; Tavis and Phyllis were sent to foster care temporarily.<ref>{{harvnb|Smiley|2006|pp=72β82}}</ref> Garnell told his children that the judge decided that he had "overreacted" and found he and Joyce were "concerned parents who were completely involved in [our] children's lives and well-being".<ref>{{harvnb|Smiley|2006|p=83}}</ref> Smiley became interested in politics at age 13 after attending a fundraiser for U.S. Senator [[Birch Bayh]].<ref name="CBB"/> At [[Maconaquah High School]] in Bunker Hill, Indiana, a school that Smiley described as "98 percent white,"<ref>{{harvnb|Smiley|2006|p=94}}</ref> he was active in the student council and the debate team, even though his parents were "skeptical of all non-church extracurricular activities".<ref>{{harvnb|Smiley|2006|pp=95, 98}}</ref>
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