During Reconstruction, a community of free Black residents formed a “kingdom” in Western North Carolina. They called it “The Kingdom of the Happy Land.” Novelist Dolen Perkins Valdez’s new book, Happy Land, gives a fictionalized account of this little-known Appalachian history. Leoneda Inge talks to her about the process of researching this community and the story she’s crafted to celebrate it.
Guest
Dolen Perkins-Valdez, assistant professor of literature at American University and New York Times best-selling author
