Carl Upchurch was born and raised in Philadelphia in the 1950's. His mother, uncle and grandmother socialized him during his early childhood. His grandmother was his primary caregiver and a prostitute, his father drifted in and out of his life, and his uncle died in a gunfight. All this shaped Upchurch as a person and led to his development of the term "niggerization." His voice became powerful for both education and corrections. This article presents the story of how Upchurch became an educator after living a life of a prisoner citizen.