Troy, Someone asked how old I am. I'm 83, white, from Alamance County, North Carolina. My goal is to celebrate the life of an enslaved man as an American hero. There's been a controversy here for years because Wyatt Outlaw (he was enslaved on the Outlaw farm) overcome tremendous odds to serve as town constable and town commissioner of Graham, the county seat. He also tried to establish a church and school there, was a talented woodworker, etc. For his reward he was lynched in the Graham town square (don't share that with potential readers).

I wouldn't expect you to have heard of him because hardly anyone here had heard of him either until recently. That's what motivated me to write this novel.

Town protests in 2022 brought to our attention that there's no marker for Wyatt, he's hardly mentioned in textbooks, etc. Yet in the courtyard where he was hanged there's a statue of a Confedererate soldier.

Hardly anything is known about Wyatt's life except that he had three children and a strong mother who survived, his last two years as a town leader in Graham, and the way he died. My novel creates a life for him. It's historical fiction, so if I checked the nonfiction box it was an error done in haste.

I wrote this novel because I see Wyatt as an American (not African American, but American) hero people should know about, but that white history wants to forget because of the way he died. My target audience was Black readers but I'm struggling to reach them. My white readers (so far mainly friends and family) tell me it affects them emotionally and makes them reconsider how they view race relations and bias in America. Personally, I believe the current government has turned back the clock and is fostering much of the diviseness in our country.

I would love to have a private or semi-private forum conversation to learn anything you can provide to help me market my book. I really believe it has an important message to share.

@Phil Lamar I consult on issues related to this, but the fact that you reached out here, tells me that you probably reached out to other groups and that is a good an inexpensive way to get started. How did you find this site?

Your book's metadata is much better on Amazon than it is in Ingram's database (which is what booksellers' reference). Who published your book and where did they or you publish it? I suspect Amazon KDP was used.

I never heard of Wyatt Outaw, but it is also not realistic to expect someone from outside the region to know who he is. As you know there were just so many men lynched in America it is not possible for anyone to know them all. On top of the fact that much of this type of information is being actively suppressed today. I appreciate and commend you for sharing it here.

Most of my ancestry is from North Carolina east you (Nash, Wake, Edgecomb). NC, despite its beauty is about as racist as they come.

Your perspective on Wyatt Outlaw's story could be very interesting to me. You were a grown man in the Jim Crow south. You witnessed; and may have participated in racists acts. You very likely know someone who attended a lynching. You quite possibly know someone who owned slaves or were the children enslavers -- indeed you may even be one of these children. This is not ancient history, I know people whose grandparents were enslaved here in America.

I say that all to say I don't want to read a book written a white man telling a Black family's story from the Black family's perspective. What I would want to read. possibly, is Outlaw's story form the white person's perspective. Which story are you telling?

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Overall No!

But strange things must happen in the next 3 years.

Some kind of Trumplosion has to happen.

Whether it is an implosion or an explosion I have no idea. Russia is imploding. Why Putin the Putrid hasn't been assassinated by now I don't get.