For two decades before she was born, Gail Milissa Grants father and mother had been actively involved in fighting the barriers of segregation and discrimination in St. Louis. David Grant had been closely associated with national leaders in the movement and was close to numerous celebrities who also played a role. He and they fought successfully on many fronts, but progress was slow. A de facto racial isolation was part of their everyday life. His decision to move his family to South St. Louis, which was virtually all white, was based on economics, not the need to break that particular geographical barrier. But, it put his two young children into a potentially hostile environment. This period is reflected in Gail Milissa Grants personal account of the period At the Elbows of my EldersOne Familys Journey Toward Civil Rights.