My Swan Lake Life: An Interactive Histoir: 80000 B.C. - May 31 1965

When Louise Blockers 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 80000 B.C. using censuses DNA analyses and passed-down stories to round out her familys 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.