I inferred you are referring to the Nigerian born writer Chimamanda Adichie's account found here (https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en).
<u>Explanation:</u>
Remember, in Adichie's talk she said referring to Fide, "the only thing my mother told me was that his family was very poor."
Later after she saw the basket fide's brother made she said "it had not occurred to me that anybody in his family could actually make something". This stereotyped view expressed in her words above complements the story of her college roommate’s stereotyped view of Adichie when she said, "she asked where I learned to speak English so well,....she had felt sorry for me even before she saw me. My roommate had a single of Africa; in this single-story, there was no possibility of Africans being similar to her in any way."
Indeed, her talk would have had a different impact without the story of Fide and his family, considering the fact that this was a real-life story so it made the best impact.
