When the COVID pandemic kept families close to home, Loganville resident Michael A. Carson and his son Matthew decided to team up on a writing project that resulted in the publication of two books — one about the origins of Black History Month and the other about notable African-American jazz figures through history.
Although the Carson’s are no longer stuck inside, their collaboration continued with a new book, “Unsung African-American History Makers: Unknown Hidden Figures And Their Stories,” which was released on New Year’s Day.
Carson said that it was his son — who just celebrated his 13th birthday — who came up with the idea for their latest book.
“We’re not still bound to the house,” quipped Carson. “The difference with this book is that following the last two books we did, Matthew actually came to me and asked me if we could work on this new book highlighting African-American hidden figures that are not necessarily mentioned during Black History Month.
“He wanted to create a book with unknown hidden figures that did some pretty remarkable things in their lives and made significant contributions to society and the world. That’s the path we followed.”
“Unsung African-American History Makers” includes two-page profiles on 60 subjects. Carson said that they discovered many of these “hidden figures” while conducting research for their previous books.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
“We were very fortunate,” he said, noting that it took about eight months to complete their latest project. “Prior to this book, we’ve done other books together on Black history and we did tons of research for those as well, so we were ahead of the game in knowing about the figures mentioned.
“There were some we did not know as well, so it was like finding hidden pieces to a puzzle. Every once in a while in our research we’d find out about someone we’d never heard of before… We figured there was a lot more out there. "
Although the father-son team has thus far proven quite prolific, Carson said they don’t have a firm idea on their next book — or if there will be a next book.
“That’s the big question we’re asking each other,” he said. “The way our process normally works, we might hear of something interesting and think it might be a good subject for a book. That’s how it all starts. We don’t have any projects in mind now, but we may in the future.”
Carson is not only pleased that he and his son, who is home schooled, have produced three books but he’s also grateful for the familial connection they’ve strengthened and enjoyed.
“We spend a lot of time with each other during the day and at night. I work remotely from home, so right after work we spend most of the evenings — if we’re not playing video games — bouncing different ideas off each other,” he said, noting that Matthew designed the book’s cover. “Our weekends were a time for research, and we’d talk during the week about what we’re going to do at the end of the week.
“One of the things we enjoy doing together is making sure we made it to the library — mostly on the weekends — and doing research with each other. We spent a lot of bonding time doing that.”
Their books are available through Amazon and other e-retailers. For more information, visit Michael A. Carson’s Facebook page or email www.doubleinfinitypublishing1@gmail.com.
Credit: Gwinnett Daily Post
Credit: Gwinnett Daily Post
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