You Child

As “You Child” my name was rarely heard above the din of 14 siblings in a black family who managed to prosper in the Jim Crow South and in the Midwest. We were disadvantaged but we were not impoverished! Our story cover 120 years and is filled with humor pathos and wisdom. We were diverse and resilient. Unbreakable bonds unraveled and were retied. Laugher insight and encouragement can be appreciated by not only our descendants but also people of color as well as white readers. My parents were early entrepreneurs in the south. My dad redefined racial identity. My mother was part Choctaw Indian and a civil rights activist in the Midwest. We were Catholic. We weathered riots. One passed for white. Another organized a nationally-affiliated group. We excelled in the military. One was severely injured in Vietnam. We held once-restricted corporate positions. We carried on a life-long love affair with automobiles. Our themes and lessons are universal. We view the life of each sibling and the ways they moved through the world—in essay form in birth order. There is overlap of course; as I am the narrator and stories and lessons are told from my (You-Child) perspective. The lessons are collected and viewed through “You Child-Prisms”.