17 Years in the Black Room

Book excerpt: Seventeen Years in the Black Room is about the transition from segregation to integration for a small-town Texas Black school teacher, Susie Sansom-Piper, in the late 1960’s. As the last Principal to close the segregated school, this memoir begins with a look at the segregated black community during her childhood (after 1921), and outlines the challenges she faced both in the integrated school and within the black community. This is a story of resilience, tragedy, and triumph over adversity, as she manages to balance the demands of her household, parents, and two small children, while maintaining the decorum and back-bone needed to survive as a Black educator. This book provides an inside look at her teaching post integration, and how integration of schoolteachers and students impacted the African American family units and the community. This is a real-world look at the challenges and obstacles placed on African Americans in the workplace from the soul of a survivor.