I thought that it was an amazing thing that I could make an all wood drum. I ran with it. I stumbled upon some different ideas that weren’t out there like changing the drums a little bit that made them dynamic in another way.

What is unique about the book is it has an interesting blend of history, personal narrative, fiction, documents (excerpts from newspapers and sociological discussions of the time period) and why people would be doing what they did.

When looking at traditional lynchings, people of color represent anywhere from 50 to 75% of those lynched. Way out of proportion to their numbers. When talking about tar and featherings, people of color represent like 10%, which is much closer to their actual number.

I wasn’t done with Angie’s story. Fat Angie was a book that touched a lot of young people. As it relates to death, after the time when people stop bringing you the casseroles, and coming to your door saying, “I’m Sorry,” seven months later if you don’t have someone to talk to, how do you cope with some of that.