Beneath the Swamp’s Shadow is a historical fiction novel inspired by the Lumbee and Tuscarora resistance against the Ku Klux Klan during the 1958 Battle of Hayes Pond. Why did you choose historical fiction, rather than nonfiction, to tell this story?

I chose historical fiction because I really wanted readers to feel the story, not just learn the facts. Nonfiction can tell you what happened, but historical fiction gave me a platform to allow readers to step into the fear, the tension, the pride, and the generational memory that surrounded the moments leading up to the Battle of Hayes Pond.

The Battle of Hayes Pond is often described as the night the Lumbee people ran the Klan out of Robeson County, but the deeper story is much larger than that. It is about family, identity, inherited courage, and a people who had already endured generations of hardship. Historical fiction gave me room to honor the documented history while also exploring the emotional truth behind it.

I wanted the reader to understand that Hayes Pond did not happen in isolation. It came from a long legacy of resistance, including the memory of my 5th great-grandfather, Henry Berry Lowry, and the revolution of the Lowry War. Fiction allowed me to connect those threads in a way that felt personal and human.

How much research went into recreating Robeson County as it would have felt in 1958?

A great deal of research went into recreating Robeson County as it would have felt in 1958. I began writing this book in 2015, so this was not a quick project. For more than a decade, I researched the events surrounding Hayes Pond, the people involved, and their genealogies, newspaper articles, oral history interviews, family histories, local geography, businesses of the 1950s, and the social climate of the time.

I wanted this book to feel like home.
Like sitting in your grandma’s living room on a Sunday afternoon, the smell of home-cooked Lumbee meal drifting from the kitchen, the sweet warmth of cedar logs crackling in the wood heater and the sound of your elder’s voice carrying stories that remind you exactly who you are, and whose blood runs in your veins.

That’s the spirit I poured into this book. I wanted Robeson County to feel alive on the page, not just as a setting, but almost as a character itself. That meant paying close attention to the details: the roads, the communities, the way people spoke, the foods our people ate, the fear surrounding Klan activity, and the pride and closeness within Lumbee and Tuscarora families. I also wanted the environment to feel accurate—the cold January night, the broomstraw grass, the swamps, and the atmosphere of rural Robeson County during that era.

Because this history is personal to me, accuracy mattered. I did not want to simply recreate a historical event. I wanted to honor the people who lived it, the families connected to it, and the descendants who still carry that memory today. This is not just history. It is my people’s story. A Sunday story. The kind passed down while shucking corn on the porch, shelling peas at the table, or sitting close enough to an elder to understand that memory is one of the ways we survive.

The novel explores courage as something inherited as much as chosen. What does courage mean to you?

To me, courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is knowing fear is present and still choosing to stand for something greater than yourself.

In Beneath the Swamp’s Shadow, courage is inherited through blood memory, family, and community. It is passed down through the stories of ancestors who endured, resisted, and survived. The people at Hayes Pond did not suddenly become brave that night. They came from generations of people who had already learned how to survive intimidation, injustice, and violence.

Courage is also responsibility. It is understanding that your actions may protect not only yourself, but your family, your community, and the generations that come after you. That kind of courage is deeply rooted in Lumbee history.

Do you see yourself continuing to explore Indigenous history and Lumbee heritage in future books?

Absolutely. Preserving and sharing Lumbee history is a major part of why I write. Our stories deserve to be remembered, studied, and passed forward, not only within our own community, but beyond it.

There are so many parts of Indigenous history, especially Lumbee history, that have been overlooked, misunderstood, or left out of larger conversations. I feel a responsibility to help bring those stories forward in a way that is honest, respectful, and meaningful.

Beneath the Swamp’s Shadow is part of a larger mission for me. I want my work to help preserve our history, honor our ancestors, and give future generations something they can look to with pride. Our people have always had powerful stories. I plan to keep telling them.

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