“The North Star of my life's work has, and maybe always will be, chasing the stories of my great-great grandfather, Jefferson Lewis Edmonds. Finding him helped me find my own story. Jefferson was born in October 1852 enslaved on the Edmonds Plantation in Crawford, Mississippi. After emancipation he would go on to become a teacher, farmer, real estate entrepreneur and political activist. His most prized achievement was owner and editor of The Liberator newspaper, an early twentieth-century Los Angeles newspaper focused on the Black American experience. The Liberator newspaper, founded in 1900, covered local and international news; advocated for improved social and economic conditions for Black Angelenos; and championed for small business and women's rights. In many ways, Liberator served as a civic media guide to help Black Americans transition out of the painful legacy of slavery and into their rights as citizens.”