Family Tree: The Biography of Priscilla

By Pamela J. Norris-Mason

Who would have imagined child and human brokering was such a lucrative business? And who would have conjured up an ingenious plan that would cause your inventory to come to you? Joan M. Sparks,Executive Director and behind the scenes child broker at the Good Samaritan Home. A carnival worker, turned lion tamer turned preacher and activist . . . It was a long road getting there but when Joan arrived, she blew up in fan fair fashion.

Joan, herself orphaned and given up for adoption, decided she was going to create the family she never had no matter what it cost, or who paid. While populating her home and lining her pockets, she came across Priscilla. No one knew where Priscilla came from or who she belong to, but, Joan knew, and she had a plan for little Prissy.

Preying on the emotions of a childless family, Joan turned Priscilla into to one of the most coveted products in her extensive portfolio of human stock.

Although several attempts were made to have Joan Sparks charged with fraud,kidnapping and child abuse, She died having never been charged with with any offense committed against Priscilla.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 4, 2010
• ISBN: 9781469101804

Pamela J. Norris-Mason

Pamela J. Norris-Miles considers herself to be “just a regular person,” who by the grace of God has overcome what at times seem to be unbelievable situations. Coming out of the life she was sold into, Pamela felt she had a lot to hide and a lot she could never atone for. But through the process of time, a strong believe in God and wonderful friends, she chronicles her life as Priscilla and her redemption as Pamela. Having been the product of child brokering, to date, Pam’s date of birth, place of origin and given name and parentage remain a mystery.

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Family Tree

The Biography of Priscilla

Pamela J. Norris-Mason

Copyright © 2010 by Pamela J. Norris-Mason.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

70156

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Dedication

Callie Campbell

February 14, 1918-August 14, 2007

This book is dedicated to the memory of one of the most wonderful women to ever grace this earth, Mrs. Callie Campbell. Aunt Callie loved God, her family and her friends with great passion. She never did anything in common order as she was not a common woman. I’d like to believe God wove Aunt Callie in a style more imaginary than common.

Anyone who ever had the opportunity spend time with Callie became a partaker of the blessings that were so much a part of who she was. Aunt Callie beamed with great light, great wit and even greater intelligence. She shared her wisdom with the same strength she gave her love. True enough Auntie was subject to tell you exactly what was on her mind and as she aged sometimes that was both wisdom and mystery.

In the scheme of life and its many gifts the woman she was, the mother she was (though birthing no children), the auntie she was, was more than enough. Callie Campbell was root that fed the limbs of the family tree and nourished us to the production of sweet fruit. She saw to it that four generations had the opportunity to succeed. To us she was amazing. Let her tell it, she was just Aunt Callie.

In Loving Memory

Mother Bessie Jones

July 23, 1924-November 7, 2009

I don’t know if in the day and time we live, we have rightfully honored our matriarchs with the accolades that are due them. The women who walked treacherous and unpaved roads to secure liberties we enjoy today. Those mothers and wives stretched beyond limit caring for husbands and children all while working a full time job; then somehow tired and worn reached within themselves to do even more. Embracing the virtue of humility employing the skills many today would declare are beneath them, yet they continue not only to increase provision but also to protect their seed from like vulnerabilities.

One would say that this was the plight of the African-American wife and mother. One would surmise that this was just what we had to do to get by. Nevertheless, in view of the spectrum of light that was Mother Bessie Jones, having been a recipient of such extraordinary kindness and compassion tempered with exceptional intelligence, I conclude that the complexities of one so gracious could never be simplified by what one might say.

Whatever the plight may have been in her 85 years, whatever life demanded in the generations she impacted, the integrity of the lessons she taught us were exemplified by the life she lived. Her words though often soft garnered the authority of a great love, great truth, and even grater God. It is common today to define ones distinguishing attributes in professional competency. Know that there was nothing common about Mother Bessie Jones. Without question her crown of distinction was true holiness, her greatest reflection four extraordinary women and two men their equal.

I loved her because before I understood loves behavior she showed me. I loved her because in spite of my adolescentfoolishness she was constant. I loved her because the spirit of God in her would not tolerate my teenage insolence and wall of delusional arrogance. I loved her because I was a terrible, mixed-up, and confused child and she never threw me away.

Now I miss her. I miss the memory of who she was and what she represented in my life. I miss her, and unjustly hold others to the standard I saw in her and the standard she cultivated in those she touched. I miss her and the spirit that she epitomized, the believed unattainable factor this generation longs for. Still I am encouraged. Encouraged to pick up the torch, carry the flame, and continue in the word till the fulfilling of its purpose in me. To exercise exceptional service, to know that I am empowered to gift remarkable love, to walk committed in the benefit of God’s Kingdom and for His people.

And I am amazed. Amazed that God would take the seed of His sweetest fruit, (Mother Jones), sew it soil that was dry, rocky and infiltrated with contaminants, heal the land (Me), and reap a harvest.

Mother, I’ll see you on the other side.

SPECIAL THANKS

Miss Terri Lynn Davis

Ms. Mary Catherine James

Steve & Patsy Lumpkin

Mrs. Valetta Cheathon

Richard & Nanette Carpenter

Mrs. Evelyn Anastasio

Dr. Wardell & Evan. Betty Black

Mr. Stanley & Evan. Ellen Bragg

Dr. Michael Brent Laws

Dr. Sandra Olivia Laws

Dr. Robert David Young

Ms. Wendolyn Queen Shockley

Ms. Cheryl Chris Jones

Mr. Roy & Jaunita Rice

Alex & Joni Stewart

FORE WORD

Although it seems nearly unfathomable in the year 2009, there remains a population searching for their identities as they were a product of human brokering. For those of us who unwillingly became inventory in this trade, the truth of who we are and where we come from remains unknown to us even today. Though only surmised, the profit earned in this industry rivals any large corporation as the dividends in the case of child and infant sales can yield a residual income until the products 18th birthday.

This astounding biography chronicles the story of an African-American infant who was sold for $5,000, in 1965, under the guise of private adoption. Exposed in the story is the secret of how the broker used the girl to simultaneously collect thousands in government stipends from multiple counties and died at the age of 81 having never been caught. Ultimately the book tells of inhumane abuses, multiple human stock transfers and eventually the young girl’s journey 2,000 miles across country to escape the control of her capture.

Speaking to the heart of those who have survived kidnapping, suffered abandonment or the loss of their parents at an early age, Family Tree is a riveting and true story. Sharing the shame of feeling genuinely unwanted and the loneliness that comes with having no known family. It shouts to an overburdened child welfare system that is plagued with human failure, creating unbelievable pain upon its wards. Its echo is a wake-up call for the ultimately forgotten, the aged out of the system and unprotected to speak loudly and tell their stories.

Choosing to Remember

Forget sounds like such a passive act, but anyone who has experienced the powerful force of repression will know the effort it takes to unforget, to remember.

Toi Derricotte

70156-NORR-layout.pdf

There is a prominent response that resides in our ability to survive what we remember, what we purpose not to remember and that which is too traumatic to recall. In the process of living and time we become tattered and torn, while attempting the façade of wholeness. Quilted atop is a finely woven surface layer rich in texture, clothed in strength and colored in intelligence. But just below the filling, the loose and unstable insulation is a deeper less perfected fabric.

As I constructed my surface layer, I placed upon myself an expectation I believed those exterior to my personal world needed of me. But underneath the surface, the less perfected fabric was my own need. I spent so much time involved in taking care of the needs