The Life and Journey of Truckstop Shirley

Book excerpt: Truckstop Shirley will tell the story of the first black woman in South Carolina to manage a truck stop on a major interstate, highway I-85 in South Carolina. Shirley, a six five, 355-pound woman with size 15 shoes, began her journey picking cotton as the daughter of a tenant farmer. Shirley picked and carried over three hundred pounds of cotton per day, on the farm located in Fair Play, South Carolina. The landowners sold the land in which her family tenant farmed to purchase a truck stop, in which Shirley worked as a waitress, cook, and eventually a manager for almost forty years. This story is a story of courage, perseverance, and survival in the life of Shirley Estrich.