Sandra is the author and publisher of her first book, Our History Awakens: Creating My Living History Avatar. The book highlights how, as a first person narrative performer, she found her voice to honor our ancestors through the life and times of 18th century slave poet Phillis Wheatley.
Available at:
Amazon Books
Museum Gift Shop, OHIO Statehouse - The People’s House, Columbus, OH
The second book of the series is, Our History Awakens: Creating Your Living History Avatar. This book highlights the fundamentals tools the reader needs to create their own living history avatar. This creative character project is through the person of Bessie Stringfield: Motorcycle Queen of Miami. Such performance themes are script writing, costuming and effective use of props. For those interested in family genealogy, a chapter is devoted to Preserving Precious Memories. Practical tips are included with websites for research.
Available at:
Amazon Books
Museum Gift Shop, OHIO Statehouse- The People’s House, Columbus, OH
Commemorating the African American experience in American History
Sandra Quick, Founder / Principal. MAEd, MAPC
I awaken our history for you.
At the end of one of my performances, a crooked back, as sweet as pie, ancient white lady shuffled up to
me, bent close in, and whispered, “I’m sorry about what my people did to your people.”
I bent close into her, looked her in the eye and said, “You did not commit any of these offenses, but I
forgive you.” The repentance of generational crimes against humanity and reconciliation of healing were
evident in our embrace as tears formed in each of our eyes.
A second grader was leaving the gymnasium after one of my performances. He left his place in line,
came back to me and said, “I felt like I was right there with you.”
Two middle aged ladies chatted constantly throughout my public performance, yet gave me great
energy with their eye contact and head nods, so I assumed their “rude” chatter was their acknowledgment
of my engaging performance. They waited until after all the other attendees left, approached me, looked
around to assure our solitude, and with the biggest smiles on their faces you can ever imagine pronounced,
“You’re a Christian, aren’t you?”
I beamed right back and in a loud voice proclaimed, “Yes, I am!” They looked at each other and agreed.
“We knew it, we just knew it!” We praised God together.
Why do I create my living history avatar? Why do I bring history ALIVE? Why do I put my heart and soul
into my performances? I awaken our history for these four people, and all the people who delight and
learn from my “edu-tainment” (education + entertainment).
I awaken our history for you.
Why do I write this book? I write for all the people who have shared with me, “I’ve always wanted to
bring a character to life, but I didn’t know where to begin.” This book is for you.
I am a teacher by heart and by trade. Furthermore, I am a former English teacher. So it stands to reason
that I should begin this book with definitions so we can communicate effectively. Agreed?
AWAKEN YOUR FAMILY’S HISTORY BY PRESERVING PRECIOUS MEMORIES
Everyone does it. You take pictures and videos on vacation, at birthdays or weddings. And then the pictures stay in the camera for who knows how long. I bet some of you even have some disposable cameras from your child’s 1 st birthday party still waiting to be developed. Those kids have now graduated from high school and are off on their own. If this is you, raise your hand and confess. Come on, raise that hand high. I see that hand, and that hand. (Smile) Some of you step it up a notch and get the photos developed. Show them off, even pass out a few, with no dates or names or places on them of course, but hey, at least you got them out of the camera. If this is you, raise your hand, even higher because you deserve some credit, right And then there are you over-achievers, who catalog the pictures, put them in fancy scrapbooks with embellishments with dates, and even little sayings and captions. Then you carry them around from family function to family function so others can gawk over your travels, adventures, and celebrations. You don’t mean to brag, but aren’t your grandchildren just the most adorable babies you’re ever seen? Ok I’ll come clean; I fall into this latter category.
I do not fit into, nor am I remotely tied to, the e-techno category who uses social media 24/7 to preserve their family’s precious memories. I am a Baby Boomer and proud of it. Pew Research Center defines Baby Boomers as those born between 1946 and 1964. I am not a Generation Xer defined as being born between 1965 and 1980 who are prone to bridge the gap between old fashioned and the techno world. Nor am I of the millennial generation, born since 1981. I gawk in amazement at the 18 month old who sits in the restaurant booth next to me and plays games, sings to her sing-a-long and attempts to create the next artistic masterpiece on her personal iPad. So my salute is to each of you who fit into this e-techno generation. There is included an e-technology and social media section just for you.
No matter which category you fall into, know that we are all part of the quest to AWAKEN YOUR FAMILY’S HISTORY BY PERSERVING PRECIOUS MEMORIES. This chapter will highlight just some of the ways to preserve precious memories. Feel free to modify, refashion, alter and/or adapt these ideas to your liking. I give you nine starting points, and then it’s up to you to take it from there.
The suggestion starting points are creating/developing/crafting:
Creating My Living History Avatar
Creating Your Living History Avatar
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Awakening My Avatar
Chapter 2 - My Story
Chapter 3 - Phillis' Story
Chapter 4 - The Power of Voice
Chapter 5 - Lest We Forget
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Don't Just Think It, Ink It
Chapter 2 - Research: I Spy With My Little Eye
A. Part 1: The 3 C’S - Creativity, Culture, and Character
B. Part 2: Chronos – What time is it?
C. Part 3: Kairos – Supreme Moment
D. Part 4: Canon – Measuring Stick
E. Part 5: C.H.I.L.L.S. - Tieing Up Loose Ends
Chapter 3 - Your History Awakens: Preserving Precious Memories
Chapter 4 - Scriptwriting 101 in Ten Easy Steps
Chapter 5 - Costuming and Props
