“The more I read and researched, the more I wanted to share all the great stories I was absorbing. I also relied a great deal on conversations that I would have with elders in Greenwood, back when I worked in the neighborhood and again when I was in the process of researching and writing my book. I grew up with amazing storytellers on both my mother and father’s side of the family. So sitting at the feet of elders and listening to their stories was something I’ve done since I was a small child.
I knew how to do the journalism — investigating documents and primary sources and finding the facts. The other piece of the puzzle for me was bringing that research to life and making it interesting for the reader, and for that, I went back to reading and listening in that great tradition of oral history and tried to marry both of those elements in my writing.”
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