Clarence Thomas who, as many of you know, is now a Supreme Court Justice, acknowledged that one of the persons who had a great influence on his life was a nun by the name of Sister Mary Virgilius Ready. Judge Thomas says it was the encouragement that he received from her that helped him to overcome poverty and racism and become someone.

Newsweek magazine wrote about her and others who served in the school that Clarence Thomas attended. The article said:

"The nuns who lived in the black areas of town were not popular. Whites occasionally referred to them as the `nigger sisters.'' The Ku Klux Klan once sent a hearse to the rectory to intimidate church officials.

"Much like Myers Anderson, the nuns taught discipline. `They said you could do it,'' recalls Orien Douglas, a classmate of Clare…