When I wrote Restive Souls (finished but no agent yet), which is an alternative history about what happens when the Brits emancipate slaves after winning the Revolutionary War, I did an enormous amount of research.

It was eye-opening. Just one small example: the rice cultivation expertise of the low country all came from Africa. Many agricultural techniques came from Africans and First Nation inhabitants. Very little from Europeans. There were African architects and bridge builders. Among other things. The history of these people was largely suppressed, and only came to me by some deep diggiing.

The VERY OPPOSITE of what DeSantis and his minions say about the way skills were developed is true. Slaves were the ones who had the skills. They brought them with them and designed/built furntiture, weaved tapestries and clothing, and built places like Monticello and plantations.

The Europeans had one basic skill. The art of punishment and enslavement. Throw in a little finance, I guess.

In Restive Souls, the newly freed slaves sieze the plantations and the sea ports they worked and build a powerful African nation in the Carolinas. The novel is not designed to make people sad for what could have been, but is designed to be a celebration of the truth about the kind of energy, tenacity, strength, skills, and spiritual fortitude the slaves brought to America.

One day soon I'll write about what I found in the research in a Medium story.

Keep up the good fight. This is the last stand of the cult of KKK. They're just trying to make the most of it before they fade into history.