Groundbreaking Magic: A Black Woman’s Journey Through The Happiest Place on Earth Book

Groundbreaking Magic is an empowering and moving story of a young woman from South Central Los Angeles (Watts and Compton) who took a chance, defied the odds, and became the first-ever Black American to achieve a half-century-long career with The Walt Company.

Magic in the details

land was groundbreaking when it opened in 1955 and continues to possess a legacy of being a trendsetter in both the world of themed, immersive, entertainment and workplace culture, experiences, and training. Although change was inevitable it didn’t always come easy.
When Martha Blanding started working at land Park in 1971, it was already a wildly successful and internationally beloved travel destination that had welcomed more than 100 million guests. This book is a personal journey through 50 years of land as told like never before . . . through the eyes and perspective of a successful Black woman who was indeed an example of Groundbreaking Magic.
The book tells how a 20-year-old college student came to work in Walt ‘s original theme park during the racially charged era of the early 1970s, starting as the park’s first Black tour guide and eventually overseeing multi-million dollar generating merchandise-based events, many featuring globally acclaimed artists and celebrities. Martha also had a unique vantage point as she saw how societal changes impacted and changed land while she helped make much of that change possible.
In addition to all the pixie dust, an incredibly loving, resilient, and close American family is at the heart of this book. With her bedrock parents who had joined the Great Migration out of the Deep South, her family witnessed firsthand some of our country’s most shameful events while never faltering in their faith or pride in being Black Americans.
Part memoir and part cultural history, Groundbreaking Magic is sweet, insightful, sometimes blunt, occasionally heartbreaking, and often funny and surprising, providing the first-ever account of history as seen through the eyes of ”Martha B.”

• Written by Martha Blanding with Tim O’Day
• Hardcover
• 384 pages
• Ages: adult

The bare necessities

• Published by Press
• Paper
• 8 1/3” H x 6” W
• Printed in U.S.A.

Item No.470023374882