13 Feb 2021: I’m excited to announce that a greatly expanded book by and about the Alabama Black McGruders is nearing completion. J.R. Rothstein, a family member and the principal author, has worked with a team of family historians and genealogists, other researchers, and editors, to craft and document this narrative of the family through multiple generations. I am honored to have worked on the manuscript, in a role that evolved into “lead editor” and sometimes “chief nag.” We expect publication, via Amazon, by the end of this month.

AND, if you want to be even more excited…a short segment on The Alabama Black McGruders will be featured in the first or second episode of a new ABC documentary series, The Soul of a Nation, airing Tuesdays throughout March. I haven’t received confirmation, but it seems the McGruder segment will air in the first or second episode, March 2 or March 9. Watch the preview! Lucille B. Osborne–one of those two beautiful McGruder women on the sofa–is a 95 year-old family historian, the soul of the book and of the McGruder story on camera. When Lucille was a child, she knew her great-grandmother, Rachel McGruder, who was born enslaved but went on to become one of the founding mothers of the family. Through her family stories, her research, and her inquisitive spirit, Lucille brings our shared history startlingly close.

Stay tuned for more info on both book & film.

And, BTW…if, like me, you have streaming but no t.v., you can ask a friend to set up a laptop in front of their t.v. and live-stream it to you. When a friend shares with me this way, she uses Facebook Messenger Video and can stream it to one person or a group.