![]() They were a precursor to the legal lottery that we all know about today. I want to start by asking you to describe the numbers at the time your mother started working as a numbers runner.īRIDGETT DAVIS: The numbers were, first of all, illegal. She's the author of two novels and is a creative writing professor at Baruch College of The City University of New York, where she directs the writer-in-residence program.īridgett Davis, welcome to FRESH AIR. She went on to graduate from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. ![]() ![]() She's written a new memoir about her mother called "The World According To Fannie Davis: My Mother's Life In The Detroit Numbers." Her mother's profits from being a numbers runner enabled Bridgett to attend Spelman College. One of those children is my guest, Bridgett Davis. She did well and raised her five children in a comfortable home that she owned. In 1960s Detroit, at a time when a lot of African-Americans were shut out of job and economic opportunities, Fannie Davis started running her own numbers operation. Some were run by enterprising individuals whose best chance at prosperity was through the underground economy. Some numbers games were run by organized crime. ![]() Before states ran legal lotteries, there was the underground street version, the numbers. ![]()
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