The Ancestors Are Smiling!

The Ancestors Are Smiling! is a collection of uplifting, funny, touching, and sometimes harrowing real life stories, creatively told by Kathy Marshall’s ancestors and their descendants. Marshall’s great-grandmother Ella worked for a Congressman who helped convince President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Great-aunt Reba describes receiving her high school diploma at the age of 106 and being profiled in Essence Magazine and on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Pullman Porter Austin’s dream came true when his sometimes wayward son (Marshall’s father) became a doctor. Marshall’s mother Mary, a Principal, shares her excitement when Apple Computers installed the first computer technology lab in her Sacramento school in 1983. These are only a few of the true stories that are woven by Marshall with the African fabric of American historical events. The tenacity of her courageous family members drove them to ensure that each generation had a better life than the last.