Overview

"When Louise Blocker's then eight-year-old grandson asked her two poignant questions-one about slavery and the other about her childhood-she initially gave him brief responses. But upon further reflection, she realized he deserved more thoughtful answers, which would involve embarking on a fact-finding mission, both into her own ancestry and into the history of slavery itself. My Swan Lake Life is the surprising, moving, and remarkable result. From the origins of the term ""race"" to the American Revolution, from the era of slavery to the Civil War, and from decades of Jim Crow to the nine-year Civil Rights Movement, Blocker reveals seldom-told history about a multitude of unsung heroes and heroines-including inventors, educators, and activists-who fought in their communities, on battlefields, and in courtrooms for the liberties American citizens enjoy today. ​​​​​​​But this book is not only a riveting history, it is also an engaging memoir-or what the author has coined a histoir. Tracing her ancestry to 80,000 B.C., using censuses, DNA analyses, and passed-down stories to round out her family's history, Blocker takes us on her own journey as a bright but sharp-tongued child in the segregated South-one who dreamed of going to college and marrying Nat King Cole-introducing us along the way to the resilient, hardworking, and resourceful generations who made her captivating story possible."

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9781732834705

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"Louise Blocker spent her formative years on the farm where she was born in Swan Lake, Mississippi, then spent her teens in Memphis, Tennessee. Her education began in a church that served as a one-room schoolhouse. She went on to receive her Bachelor of Arts degree from Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her career as a language arts and social studies teacher at Hardy Junior High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, ended when she began a westward migration-first to Lawrence, Kansas, then a step back to Kansas City, Missouri, before continuing on to Santa Monica, California. In 1991, she became the founder, editor, and publisher of CONTACT, the Blocker family's newsletter. Her ""Blocker Family Prayer"" and ""1994 Blocker Family Reunion Prayer"" are published in Book of Prayers by Holman United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, California. The divorced mother of one son, grandmother of one grandson, and aunt to four generations of nieces and nephews, which totaled 553 in 2018, Louise observes the Sabbath at Santa Monica Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Santa Monica, California. When not engaged in Sudoku, she enjoys nature, the arts, and human interest stories that allow her to help others."

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