Introducing Doctor Claiborne

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My Great-Grandfather was born a slave.

John J Aldridge

Grandfather Aldridge was a share cropper in North Carolina who eventually saved enough to buy his plot of land and become a small independent farmer. 

Grandfather Claiborne was a shoemaker in Baltimore supporting a large family.

James Claiborne Family - 1922

My Mom, Macy Claiborne

My Mother was the first member of her family to graduate from college, and although my Father never got more than a high school diploma, he became a consultant to every Republican president from Eisenhower to Bush Sr.

My Dad with Presidents

It wasn't until I watched the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, about the city where I was born and my Dad began his political career, that I fully understood why he ended up on the Republican side of the street. Politically, I didn't follow him, although he did teach me that both parties were different wings of the same bird of prey.

My own college career was cut short of a diploma by the Vietnam War and my activism against it.

Candice Claiborne

  
This Sunday, my Daughter, Candice Nicole Claiborne, will be the first in our family to go all the way when she accepts her Doctor of Philosophy degree in clinical psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Best Father's Day Gift Ever!

Candice and her Dad, Linux advocates at Comdex 1997
She help make the famous tall red hat.

Update:

Candice and her Mon at Garduation