Autumn Crum
This is a two part answer.
1) I'm a multi genre reader. One of my favorite genres to read is historical fiction/romance. One thing that frustrates me with the genre when it pertains to African Americans is that all the characters are either slaves or country bumpkins living in the Jim Crow South. I wanted to shed light to let the world know that not all black people were sitting around scared and waiting for a Klansman to hang them from a tree. Some were very prominent members of society who contributed to their community.
2) I was really inspired to write my latest book while watching the news last February. It was on the local news. They were doing a Black History Month special on a neighborhood nicknamed Sugar hill. There was a little old lady standing in front of an old boarded up house. The house took up half a city block. IT WAS HUGE! They were getting ready to demolish the house and the woman was sad. The house use to be hers. I felt her pain as she held up pictures and reminisced on what the neighborhood use to be for people of color. Sugar hill was once a vibrant neighborhood for affluent blacks and now it is just a ghost town. I knew I wanted to write the old lady's story but I needed to make it exciting so I put her character with a gangster love interest and used The King of Harlem Bumpy Johnson as my muse. I didn't use his likeness. I just created a character with what I believe his demeanor would have been. I am very proud of my work on the book 1955. The tough part is finding an audience willing to read it.
1) I'm a multi genre reader. One of my favorite genres to read is historical fiction/romance. One thing that frustrates me with the genre when it pertains to African Americans is that all the characters are either slaves or country bumpkins living in the Jim Crow South. I wanted to shed light to let the world know that not all black people were sitting around scared and waiting for a Klansman to hang them from a tree. Some were very prominent members of society who contributed to their community.
2) I was really inspired to write my latest book while watching the news last February. It was on the local news. They were doing a Black History Month special on a neighborhood nicknamed Sugar hill. There was a little old lady standing in front of an old boarded up house. The house took up half a city block. IT WAS HUGE! They were getting ready to demolish the house and the woman was sad. The house use to be hers. I felt her pain as she held up pictures and reminisced on what the neighborhood use to be for people of color. Sugar hill was once a vibrant neighborhood for affluent blacks and now it is just a ghost town. I knew I wanted to write the old lady's story but I needed to make it exciting so I put her character with a gangster love interest and used The King of Harlem Bumpy Johnson as my muse. I didn't use his likeness. I just created a character with what I believe his demeanor would have been. I am very proud of my work on the book 1955. The tough part is finding an audience willing to read it.
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