Who is Barbara Jennings from A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League and what is their importance?

Barbara Jennings was Cedric's mother, a child of poverty and the mother of three illegitimate children. After Cedric's birth, his mother focused her life on raising and nurturing her children, involving herself in the church and returning to school to get an education. Unfortunately, Barbara spends her time in school being financially irresponsible and acquires great debt. She then moves back to her childhhod home where the cycle of poverty begins again.