Projects

Ida Beard’s 1898 memoir, My Own Life, unlocked for me the world of piedmont North Carolina on the eve of Jim Crow; my annotated edition is forthcoming.

A related project is “‘Pluck Enough’: The Winston-Salem Riot of 1895” —a planned group portrait of the African American men of 1895 who risked their lives to prevent a feared lynching. I hope to have a draft completed by the end of 2022, and the book available for purchase in 2023 or 2024. Sales of my other books will support research into the lives of the laborers and small businessmen who answered the call to protect young Arthur Tuttle from lynching. [link to purchase page]

I believe in the spiritual value of recording family and personal histories. I am engaged in helping a friend capture the traumatic story of his life in order to provide guidance and inspiration to others. I hope to help others capture their life stories and to become a publisher to share these stories with a wider audience.