When We Were Black

About the Book

The book is called When We Were Black. I came up with the book, or the book came up to me several years ago. It was during one Christmas holiday spent time with children and grandchildren, while I was relating to my family’s diverse tree, when one of my daughters informed me that her children did not consider themselves a color, speaking of black. Initially, I was insulted because black was never a color but was a very serious movement during the 1960s and 1970s. Well, I had to consider whether I had impressed this point to my own children and spoke to others who were having similar conversations with the younger generation. I felt serious enough about it to write a book diagramming my road to being black because back then you were a “Negro” or “Colored” on your birth certificate. Being that this was on your birth certificate, the parents continued calling themselves that. It was a big thing, radical, to tell your parents that you were black because, for many, it was revolutionary. A revolution is nothing but change, and we were attempting to change the world. I would guess that I am embarking on changing the world now because many do not see the significance between African American and black. There is a significant difference, which the book explains.

About the Author

I was born in the San Francisco Bay area. My family is from New Orleans, so I spent most summers there and even lived in New Orleans, going to school for a few years. After high school, I was a freelance photographer for many years. I went back to school and received a BA and MA at the New College of California. I got into a Masters Forensic Psychology Program at Argosy University but did not complete it because of my desire to write books and be a published author. At some point, I was a professional gambler in Lake Tahoe, Reno, or Las Vegas. I love the blackjack table, began gambling in high school, and still do, hence the name Blackk Jack Samm. I began to write poetry in junior high school in Louisiana yet did not seriously consider writing books until finishing BA. I would like to consider myself more of a poet than writer, yet it is very fulfilling.