Marilou awiakta biography of michael jackson

Internationally Acclaimed Native American Poet, Storyteller, Essayist

I grew up on the atomic frontier, the seventh generation of a Cherokee-Appalachian family rooted in the mountains of East Tennessee.

I was born in Knoxville. In 1945, when I was nine, we moved to nearby Oak Ridge, a federal “reservation.” At that point, the culture of the atom — and the atom itself — became entwined in my life forever.

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Oak Ridge was a secret city of 75,000 with a mysterious industry. Its purpose was known only to a few at the top of government. Employees like my father knew only that their jobs were urgent.

The city was locked down with a perimeter fence. Each plant where people worked was inside a fence, inside a fence, inside a fence.

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Absolute secrecy. No one could speak of what they did, even to their families. It was as if my father disappeared into a mystery and came home from a mystery.

To me, it was very ad