Down the Road a Piece

It is summer, 1957. Full of excitement and sense of adventure, a thirteen-year-old, African American boy, Gaylloyd, embarks on an eye-opening road trip with his parents and five brothers to meet relatives in the Deep South.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joseph G. Sissón

Joseph G. Sissón is an educator, philosopher, and natural science writer with membership in the African American Writers’ Alliance. He hosts three writer’s study groups and is a political activist, serving the city he lives in as an Arts Commissioner. He has been a guest speaker for the American Association of University Women, written articles for the University of Washington’s VOICE, and a newsletter for the horticultural organization, Plant Amnesty.

He is a published poet and novelist of short stories. His poetry themes are scientific phenomena, natural sciences, and personal political opinions. Down the Road a Piece is his debut novel. The book’s genre is autobiographical, historical fiction. This is a coming-of-age story written in the voice of a well-educated privileged child.

EMAIL JOSEPH: jgaylloyd@gmail.com

Joseph G. Sissón is a member of the African American Writers’ Alliance in Seattle, was and a member of the Burien Arts Commission.

Synopsis: Down the Road a Piece

It is summer, 1957. Full of excitement and a sense of adventure, a thirteen-year-old, African-American boy, Gaylloyd, embarks on an eye-opening road trip with his parents and five brothers to meet relatives in the Deep South. Gaylloyd is a Boy Scout from San Diego who has grown up in diverse communities and attends a parochial school, as his parents have worked hard to give him a better life. None of his life experiences, though, have prepared him for what he will learn on his journey across the United States on Route 66.

As Gaylloyd’s family passes through segregated states, Gaylloyd is cheerful, observant, but naïve about the white public’s reactions to them. For a time, his parents have to dodge his questions about new things, like the Dixie flag, separate restrooms, and Jim Crow.

Finally, the family reaches Gaylloyd’s father’s isolated, rural hometown of Winona, Mississippi for a visit full of new experiences plus several traumatic events. Gaylloyd becomes angrier and more confused, blaming his dad for a host of confrontations and humiliations, until his father explains to him the historical differences between the Deep South and the West Coast. With a new appreciation for his father’s struggles growing up and insights into his country not yet taught in school, Gaylloyd has an epiphany that entering manhood is more than just a trip Down the Road a Piece.

Memoirs, Writings & Storytelling

by SCOTT SCHAEFER, of the B-Town Blog
October 14, 2025

Nearly two years after The B-Town Blog first profiled his memoir Down the Road a Piece, Burien author and longtime educator Gaylloyd Sisson continues to write, travel, and share his stories with readers locally and abroad.

Sisson’s book, which recounts a family road trip through the segregated South in 1957, has resonated with audiences worldwide. It is available in bookstores and libraries in the United States, Canada, and Denmark, and has reached readers as far as Norway, the Netherlands, and Ethiopia (buy it online here).

“Life constantly changes,” Sisson recently told The B-Town Blog. “I give presentations as the featured author in libraries, museums, and book clubs.” Those presentations often spark conversations about African American cultural experiences, which he said he had not fully considered when first writing the memoir.

READ the rest of the article
on the B-Town Blog.

Read about Joseph G. Sisson
on the B-Town Blog

Burien resident Gaylloyd Sisson goes ‘Down the Road a Piece’ to tell his stories

by ALIA SINCLAIR
March 9, 2023, Updated March 10, 2023

A staggering coming of age story that grapples with identity, family, and culture, Down the Road a Piece is a scintillating snapshot of how our own self-perception is formed in the petri dish of our surrounding societal narratives.

The B-Town Blog recently sat down with Sisson to learn more about his book and life story. When the idea of self-perception being influenced by culture is mentioned, he tells a story of his brother, a filmmaker who intended to document the culture of a tribe of people in Papua New Guinea…

READ the rest of the article
on the B-Town Blog.