Dupree was born in Carthage and grew up in a family where they picked cotton to make a living. She was the "great-grandchild of a slaveholder and the grandchild of former slaves," and stories she heard about life in slavery had a deep affect on her. Dupree grew up poor, living in a two-room house with her five siblings, her parents, and her grandmother. Dupree's mother "never permitted her to complain" of their poverty and "reminded her there were other children 'worse off' than she."