Little Richard shatter racial divisions in the music industry. Little Richard was born Richard Wayne Penniman on December 5, 1932, in Macon, Georgia. He was the third of twelve children of Leva Mae (née Stewart) and Charles "Bud" Penniman. His father was a church deacon who sold bootlegged moonshine on the side and owned a nightclub, the Tip In Inn. His mother was a member of Macon's New Hope Baptist Church. Initially, Little Richard's first name was supposed to have been "Ricardo" but an error resulted in "Richard" instead. The Penniman children were raised in a neighborhood of Macon called Pleasant Hill.
Frances Montresor Buchanan Allen Penniman and refinement. Such was the wealth and position of Mr. Wall, that he spared no expense in the education of his step-daughter, Penniman, who was sent to the capital of New England to complete her education. Penniman was 18 when Ethan Allen, liberated from the Tower of London, returned to his native State. "I should like," said Penniman, one evening in a mixed company in her step-father's parlor, "above all things to see this Mr. Allen, of whom we hear such incredible things." This saying reached the ears of Allen, who soon after paid a visit to the house of