Rep. Black Reveals Personal Story for the First Time on Camera

Interview

Congressman Diane Black (R-TN-06) recently sat down for a conversation with Cookeville, Tennessee's PBS affiliate, WCTE as part of the networks' "One on One" interview series. Black detailed personal stories never before shared on camera with host Becky Magura, including her early life in public housing, the unlikely story of her marriage to her husband of 35 years, and her relationship with her elderly parents. A partial transcript of Congressman Black's interview is provided below. To watch the full video, click here.

On Her Upbringing in Public Housing (06:50 -- 08:12)
"I will tell you that when [The Tennessean's] Brad Schmitt came to do an interview with me and talk about my life -- my early days -- in some ways that was really cathartic for me because, for many years, I didn't share that. I thought people would see that and judge me in a way and so, being able to tell my story, what I realize now as I talk to others and they tell their story is we have very similar stories and I'm proud of the environment I was raised in . . . For the first four years of my life, we lived in public housing in the inner-city. When my parents had enough money to be able to buy a small home, which they still live in today, they moved us from the city into the county . . . We didn't have a lot when we were children but we had a lot of love in our house."

On the Influence of Her High School Guidance Counselor, Mr. Richard Whiting (08:45 -- 10:30)
"I had a wonderful counselor who saw something in me that I don't even think I saw in myself at that time and he was the one who encouraged me to do well in school so that I'd get a scholarship so that I could go to nursing school because my family, frankly, could not afford that . . . He was one of those people that I will always hold as a mentor that I want to be to other children I see because he was like a father-figure to me . . . My mother and father did not have much of an education. My father had a sixth grade education and my mother went to the ninth grade. My parents' desire was that each of us four children would graduate from high school but it was hard for them to see beyond that because they didn't have the means and it wasn't something that, in their generation, was as important. So having a counselor who said "You need to be a nurse. That's what you want to be.' -- It was just a wonderful thing . . . The older I get and the more I think about him, the more special he becomes to me."

On How She Met Her Husband of 35 Years, Dr. David Black (16:14 -- 17:28)
"My husband and I met actually when I was in high school. He's from Michigan and he was in the Marines visiting the area where I lived and [he] dated a girl who was in my high school class. So that was the first time that we met and then years went by and they married and I married my high school sweetheart . . . Unfortunately both of us had marriages that didn't work out. I had three children and our lives came back together again. It's kind of like "When Harry Met Sally' . . . A good friend of ours said, "Look, you both are great folks. I think you all ought to get to know each other better.' We did, I ended up marrying him. He has adopted all three of our children, they all three have his name, and he basically is their Dad. He raised them."

On Why She Loves Tennessee (23:12 -- 25:00)
"I love Tennessee. We've been here, it'll be 30 years this upcoming year. My mother still says to me -- my 90 year old mother, precious Mom -- "when are you coming home.' And I tell her "Mom, I am at my home.' Tennessee is a special place. I didn't know that much about Tennessee when my husband decided to take a job at Vanderbilt [University] and move us here. People would say to me "Oh, you're going to Tennessee. That's the south. And they do things differently down there.' Well they sure do and I love this state. I love the warmness of people. I love all the Tennessee values, they fit so well with who I am and what my family is about . . . Tennessee is home for me -- it always will be."

Source