In 1954, Condoleezza Rice was born in Birmingham, Alabama, a city that Martin Luther King called the
most segregated city in America
in 1963. Rice’s middle-class, college-educated parents instilled in their only child a sense that she could do anything if she put her mind to it, but that she would have to make sure that she was
twice as good
as whites in all her achievements. Rice became an accomplished pianist, student, and ice skater before heading to college at the University of Denver and graduate school at Stanford University. Along the way, she made connections with powerful statesmen, paving the way for her later career of
firsts
in politics. She was the first female provost at Stanford University in California, the first black female national security advisor, and the first black female secretary of state.
Condoleezza Rice: Stateswoman
tells her life story, one of perseverance and the pursuit of excellence.