The past is not past. We may think something ancient history, or something that doesn’t affect our present day, but we would be wrong.

Those Who Saw the Sun is a collection of oral histories told by Black people who grew up in the South during the time of Jim Crow. Jaha Nailah Avery is a lawyer, scholar, and reporter whose family has roots in North Carolina stretching back over 300 years. These interviews have been a personal passion project for years as she’s traveled across the South meeting with elders and hearing their stories.

One of the most important things a culture can do is preserve history, truthfully.

In Those Who Saw the Sun we have the special privilege of hearing this history as it was experienced by those who were really there. The opportunity to read their stories, their similarities and differences, where they agree and disagree, and where they overcame obstacles and found joy, feels truly like a gift.