> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://swickey.mymagic.page/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # OKC in 1980 - URL: https://swickey.mymagic.page/okc-in-1980/ - Published: 2026-08-29T21:28:25.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-29T21:36:49.000Z - Description: Soooo many changes! - Author: Mike Swickey ![](https://swickey.mymagic.page/content/images/2026/08/IMG_570.JPG) --- SPONSORED aknvjkvnjfanvjfvnfsn vjnjkncs JCnkjnk This is "callout" text. Henry Townsend, born a slave, is purchased and freed by his father, yet he remains attached to his former owner, even taking lessons in slave owning when he eventually buys his own slaves. Townsend is part of a small enclave of free blacks who own slaves, thus offering another angle on the complexities of slavery and social relations in a Virginia town just before the Civil War. His widow, Caldonia, grief-stricken and more conflicted about slavery than Henry was, fails to maintain the social order. Also caught in the miasma of slavery is Sheriff John Skiffington, an honorable man who, when presented with a slave as a marriage gift, spends the remainder of his marriage, along with his wife, dithering about how to deal with the girl and ends up treating her like a daughter. ![](https://swickey.mymagic.page/content/images/2026/08/IMG_394.jpg) Set in Manchester County, Virginia, 20 years before the Civil War began, Edward P. Jones's debut novel, The Known World, is a masterpiece of overlapping plot lines, time shifts, and heartbreaking details of life under slavery. Caldonia Townsend is an educated black slaveowner, the widow of a well-loved young farmer named Henry, whose parents had bought their own freedom, and then freed their son, only to watch him buy himself a slave as soon as he had saved enough money. Although a fair and gentle master by the standards of the day, Henry Townsend had learned from former master about the proper distance to keep from one's property. After his death, his slaves wonder if Caldonia will free them. When she fails to do so, but instead breaches the code that keeps them separate from her, a little piece of Manchester County begins to unravel. Impossible to rush through, The Known World is a complex, beautifully written novel with a large cast of characters, rewarding the patient reader with unexpected connections, some reaching into the present day. --*Regina Marler* --- --- ![](https://swickey.mymagic.page/content/images/2026/08/IMG_77.JPG) ![](https://swickey.mymagic.page/content/images/2026/08/IMG_78.JPG) ![](https://swickey.mymagic.page/content/images/2026/08/IMG_79.jpg) ![](https://swickey.mymagic.page/content/images/2026/08/IMG_115.JPEG) ![](https://swickey.mymagic.page/content/images/2026/08/IMG_150.PNG) ![](https://swickey.mymagic.page/content/images/2026/08/IMG_151.PNG) ![](https://swickey.mymagic.page/content/images/2026/08/IMG_152.PNG) ![](https://swickey.mymagic.page/content/images/2026/08/IMG_154.PNG) [my-ublock-backup\_2026-08-27\_14.55.49my-ublock-backup\_2026-08-27\_14.55.49.txt1 KBdownload-circle](https://swickey.mymagic.page/content/files/2026/08/my-ublock-backup%5F2026-08-27%5F14.55.49.txt "Download") --- #### Toggled Content Here b;wjfbpimkopkqpofkbofe,bgmbkemfkemb;fm,bflmbkam dlv ldflld ;oadvnefvefvefmld [Mike SwickeyLife. Thoughts. Nostalgia.![](https://swickey.mymagic.page/content/images/icon/favicon-ddfef763-1745-4166-837a-43b28266af34.ico)Mike Swickey![](https://swickey.mymagic.page/content/images/thumbnail/publication-cover-4055223a-3f07-4587-9e38-5f911574c227.jpg)](https://swickey.mymagic.page/) ![](https://swickey.mymagic.page/content/images/2026/08/IMG_1020.jpg) #### Chip Rack This is a steal at -- $40! [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Known-World-Edward-P-Jones/dp/0060557540/141-8362900-4092102?pd%5Frd%5Fw=VCdIA&content-id=amzn1.sym.b853d215-90db-49b5-bd69-9909dc4557b0&pf%5Frd%5Fp=b853d215-90db-49b5-bd69-9909dc4557b0&pf%5Frd%5Fr=K4BKSPV3XQE76TRYD3AG&pd%5Frd%5Fwg=NCC0t&pd%5Frd%5Fr=f8698dbe-5f59-4ac3-b40c-c69c874548cc&pd%5Frd%5Fi=0060557540&psc=1&ref=swickey.mymagic.page)