The grim East St. Louis, Ill., housing project in which Cuonzo Martin grew up was known as “The Hole.” Not knowing what he was missing when he was very young, though, he’ll say, “For me, it was like Beverly Hills.”
But his mother, Sandra, wanted him and his siblings to understand there was so much more beyond the poverty, violence, drugs and gangs that surrounded them.
So as she worked multiple jobs to raise four children, she’d also take them on simple but profound field trips a few times a year.
Since she didn’t have a car, they’d bus over to affluent St.