Publisher's Synopsis
In 1920, turmoil engulfed Calexico, California when the local high school's first African American graduate was projected to be valedictorian. Perceiving that an untenable humiliation, other class members vowed to boycott the ceremony. In turn, school officials considered numerous appeasements, including cancelling commencement. Ironically, the target of disdain didn't understand the turbulence. Being mulatto and fully capable of passing the bag test, she grew up holding no claim to social woes endured by her darker skinned contemporaries, propitiating even tragedies in her own household. Therein, reality became her final study. Though California's newspapers generally ignored this volatile skirmish, other publications nationwide were intrigued. Each provided unique details that collectively exposed the dilemma's origin. This dynamic prose-poem is a fictionalized recount of the once fiery but now forgotten America saga of pride, prowess, fear and fortitude.
