17 Years in the Black Room

Seventeen Years in the Black Room is about the transition from segregation to integration for asmall-town Texas Black school teacher, Susie Sansom-Piper, in the late 1960’s. As the last Principalto close the segregated school, this memoir begins with a look at the segregated black communityduring her childhood (after 1921), and outlines the challenges she faced both in the integratedschool and within the black community. This is a story of resilience, tragedy, and triumph overadversity, as she manages to balance the demands of her household, parents, and two smallchildren, 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 schoolteachersand students impacted the African American family units and the community. This is areal-world look at the challenges and obstacles placed on African Americans in the workplacefrom the soul of a survivor.