My real father died when I was two years old, so I never knew him. He was a barber in Chicago.
The best advice that was given to me was that I had to be 10 times smarter, braver and more polite to be equal. So I did.
When I joined Custer I donned the uniform of a soldier. It was a bit awkward at first but I soon got to be perfectly at home in men's clothes.