Della Long

Della is successful but worries about her past catching up with her. When she was 15 she was placed into foster care due to domestic violence in the home. The conditions she lived under in foster care for the nine months she was in the program were deplorable. Joe Justice was a successful lawyer and Della’s cousin. When he learned that Della was in foster care, he and his wife, Virginia, decided to take her in. Della experienced another shock when she began living in wealth. For the first time in her life, she could have the right clothes but she didn’t know what they were. She was shy and unsure of herself in social situations.

Joe and Virginia saw through her social ineptitude to recognize her intelligence. They encouraged her to attend Berea College, a small liberal arts college that accepted children from low-income...