If Cotton Could Talk," is a civil war era historical fiction novel about 19th-century slave life in the South. You will be introduced to a cast of characters; Black mothers and fathers who are fearless, smart, and devoted to family and justice. Heroes and heroines whose leadership gave enslaved people hope. But before freedom comes, they must survive other slaves who prove to be untrustworthy. At the same time ruthless, hostile, hateful men are determined to keep the status quo. Pre-Civil War, 1850, enslaved people could sense that their lives were going to change. Slaves reasoned that they...

Book One of the Spinning Jenny series. "I guess I'll name you Jenny, something I can say easy. That was my mammy's name, anyway. Jenny. You be Jenny from now on..." Cornelius Carson's mother cautioned him never to own slaves, but in 1830s Louisiana, land and slaves are proof of a man's worth. At 23 Cornelius is ambitious, and in love. He owns one elderly slave, Malachi, and a small cotton farm along Bayou Cocodrie. And he plans to marry Stephanie Coqterre, daughter of a wealthy Natchez planter. He needs another field-hand, but prices are high. So when a trader brings a coffle of smuggled ...

In this fascinating tale set in 1919, the Thomas family leaves New Orleans for Chicago as part of the Great Migration, seeking equality denied in the South. They are confident and optimistic. But hope is extinguished when they are met by 6,000 National Guard troops deployed to quell an earlier race riot. Linda and Ben prepare their nephew Trey to lead the family through the treacherous landscape of a big city plagued by segregation, police violence, and corruption. Is he ready? They devise a risky plan to challenge real estate covenants banning Blacks from buying homes in white ...

The Warmest December is the incredibly moving story of one Brooklyn family and the alcoholism that determined years of their lives. Narrated by Kenzie Lowe, a young woman reminiscent of Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John, as she visits her dying father and finds that choices she once thought beyond her control are very much hers to make.

Natchez, Mississippi. 1843... At the age of 22, Jenny has lived a lifetime of experiences. She was a child kidnapped into slavery, and then freed. She’s been married and widowed, and she’s become a mother. But when an ambitious sheriff comes after her for an old crime, she flees the safety of her home at the Natchez estate known as Carefree and plunges headlong into dangers greater than any she has faced before. At 34, Cornelius Carson is wealthy, an important man in Natchez. He has inherited Carefree, and he lives there with his wife Euphonia, his small son Thomas, and his ward, a ...