water for everyone. we were so happy when we got an electric pump. we no longer had to pump water. >> so that was your upbringing? >> yes. and church. oh, don't forget church. every time the church doors opened, we were there. >> sherrod's father was a deacon. she believes it was that devotion that got their family through tough times. >> the lord will make a way somehow. my mother used to sing it around the house all the time. you'd hear her singing that, i think i know why now, times were so hard. and she would always sing that song. the lord will make a way somehow. >> reporter: the farming was hard. being black, even harder. the 1960s, jim crow laws divided the south and the races.