Mark A. Pierce Sr. has written a saga that uncovers an innocuous slight to the military service record of thousands of African Americans. His sweeping novel about a military social experiment starts in Detroit in 1943 and reaches its profound conclusion forty years later. The battles repelled by the greatest generation of fighting men the world had ever seen were covered in the memories of a zeitgeist... underneath the sands of time. Pierce has come forward with an unspoken story - until now. FOUR AND TWENTY BLACKBIRDS will astound the reader.
About the Author
After years of research and organizing, Mark A. Pierce Sr. used his first draft of "FOUR AND TWENTY BLACKBIRDS" as his Senior Project at California Polytechnic State University in 1992. The work was recognized with the university's student arts commendation on behalf of the English Department.
Still Pierce did not immediately seek to have it sent out. He did revision after revision on the manuscript... decades of revision. Two years ago he finally felt it was ready. Pierce was so deliberate with the manuscript because its nexus had come to him from his father, August Pierce. He had shown Pierce the memorabilia of 1944 U.S. Army Movement orders. August Pierce had been asked to volunteer for the December 1943 assignment, but had refused (despite being decorated three times for bravery). Pierce assumed the weight of this information and wanted to give it just treatment.
This is Pierce's second book, but his first novel. In 2012, Pierce published the social/educational book, Microaggressions Across the Great Divide, an inquiry about how perceptions get aligned to multicultural misconceptions and how that damages learning.
Pierce holds a Master's Degree in English Rhetoric (2007) and a Master's Degree in Education (2008), both received from the California State University of Northridge. He is a credentialed teacher and public school administrator.
Pierce lives with his wife, Corinne, on the central coast of California.