Bertha V., Louisville, Kentucky.
(p. 526, 3rd edition, page 531 in 4th edition.)
They Lost Nearly All
“Poor, black, totally ruled by alcohol, she felt shut away from any life worth living. But when she began a prison sentence, a door opened.”
Bertha arrived at A.A.’s doors in April of 1972. She was the daughter of a clergyman, but had sunk low because of alcohol. She had served time in prison for killing a man in a blackout. It was in prison that she accepted A.A., having rejected it earlier. She only served three years of a twelve-year sentence.
She was a poor African-American woman from an area where there were very few African-Americans in A.A. And they didn’t get involved much in A.A. activities. She thought some African-Americans were afraid to go to other meetings, but she wanted them to know that “there are no color bars in A.A.” She talks movingly about how she was not discriminated against in A.A., nor made to feel different in any way.