Wilkerson wrote about Angela Whitiker’s son in her Pulitzer Prize-winning story "First Born, Fast Grown." Twelve years later, she chronicles his mother’s successful struggle to earn a nurse’s degree and move from poverty into the middle class. What makes the piece informative—and more than just a good story about overcoming adversity—is her focus on the challenges Whitiker continues to face even after she’s "made it," and the social and economic context of her story.
Read “Angela Whitiker’s Climb,” by Isabel Wilkerson