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The Shaping
On a fateful wagon ride to church in 1909, the stage was set for Big Emma's Boy. One of the wagon wheels hit a rut and took off rolling in one direction, four-year-old Emma’s life in another. It was a long, bumpy ride, but that old wagon finally slowed down long enough in 1972 for her son, Albert Race Sample, to be released from prison and catch his breath. Ten years later it stopped, allowing him the opportunity to write his incredible memoir. In 1986, Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, published the paperback, and my husband’s remarkable story was told to the multitudes. In 2018, Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster, republished the book.
The Shaping is the rest of Race Sample's story leading up to his imprisonment in the Texas State Prison system in 1952. This book explores his younger years growing up as a biracial black boy in the Jim Crow South in the 1930s and 1940s. It delves into his tumultuous relationship with his abusive mother, Emma, a prostitute who ran a gambling house in Longview, Texas, and blamed him for being the "reason why" her black husband walked out on her the day her light-skinned son was born. In 1936, Emma was run out of town by the Klu Klux Klan for "messing with White men." Six-year-old Albert had to survive in a town where he was an outcast by both Blacks and Whites; a town where his White daddy couldn't take him in and his Black daddy wouldn't. The vast array of characters he met along his journey of survival, Miss Bertha, Floyd, Wino, and Boots to name a few, are brought to life on the pages of this extraordinary coming-of-age memoir.
Although Race passed away in 2005, his spirit lives on in The Shaping. I am thrilled to honor my husband's memory and remarkable life with the publication of his second book, which shines a spotlight on some of the continuing plagues of child abuse, poverty, and racism. Rich in history lost to time, The Shaping weaves his younger years with Longview’s as he struggles to survive. Yet, as in Racehoss, he could still find the humor to make his story bearable with richly textured dialogue that rings absolutely true. Emma returned to Longview in 1940 and resumed life as usual. Unfortunately, that included her abusive treatment of Albert. At the age of twelve, he ran away from home and never looked back. All he knew was gambling and a life of crime, so his path to prison was clearly set for him.
Ten years later he went to prison for two years for burglary and then again in 1956 with a thirty-year sentence for robbery and robbery by assault. After serving seventeen years in the Texas Prison System, Race Sample was released. He became the first ex-convict in Texas to work out of the Office of the Governor and to serve as a probation officer for Travis County. The recipient of numerous humanitarian awards and the Outstanding Crime Prevention Citizen of Texas Award, he resided in Austin with his wife, Carol, until his passing in 2005.
The Shaping is both hilarious and devastating, not for the faint-hearted but well worth the ride.
The Shaping is the rest of Race Sample's story leading up to his imprisonment in the Texas State Prison system in 1952. This book explores his younger years growing up as a biracial black boy in the Jim Crow South in the 1930s and 1940s. It delves into his tumultuous relationship with his abusive mother, Emma, a prostitute who ran a gambling house in Longview, Texas, and blamed him for being the "reason why" her black husband walked out on her the day her light-skinned son was born. In 1936, Emma was run out of town by the Klu Klux Klan for "messing with White men." Six-year-old Albert had to survive in a town where he was an outcast by both Blacks and Whites; a town where his White daddy couldn't take him in and his Black daddy wouldn't. The vast array of characters he met along his journey of survival, Miss Bertha, Floyd, Wino, and Boots to name a few, are brought to life on the pages of this extraordinary coming-of-age memoir.
Although Race passed away in 2005, his spirit lives on in The Shaping. I am thrilled to honor my husband's memory and remarkable life with the publication of his second book, which shines a spotlight on some of the continuing plagues of child abuse, poverty, and racism. Rich in history lost to time, The Shaping weaves his younger years with Longview’s as he struggles to survive. Yet, as in Racehoss, he could still find the humor to make his story bearable with richly textured dialogue that rings absolutely true. Emma returned to Longview in 1940 and resumed life as usual. Unfortunately, that included her abusive treatment of Albert. At the age of twelve, he ran away from home and never looked back. All he knew was gambling and a life of crime, so his path to prison was clearly set for him.
Ten years later he went to prison for two years for burglary and then again in 1956 with a thirty-year sentence for robbery and robbery by assault. After serving seventeen years in the Texas Prison System, Race Sample was released. He became the first ex-convict in Texas to work out of the Office of the Governor and to serve as a probation officer for Travis County. The recipient of numerous humanitarian awards and the Outstanding Crime Prevention Citizen of Texas Award, he resided in Austin with his wife, Carol, until his passing in 2005.
The Shaping is both hilarious and devastating, not for the faint-hearted but well worth the ride.
386 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 28, 2024
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