In 2017, I independently published three physical books of historic significance that are still collected to this day.
1. Inside The Music Biz with Henry Stone
2. Cuban Coffee Windows of Miami
3. A People's History of Overtown vol. 1
All three got positive reviews in multiple media outlets from a variety of writers
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/community-voices/article177186771.html
I always kind of liked this review by Dr. Dorothy Jenkins Fields of the Black Historic Archives, but the one big irony is that she criticizes me for so-called historical inaccuracies in the very same article where she, or her editors, do that very same thing about me and about the people of Overtown.
Almost all published books on earth contain at least one typo, and my self published book on Overtown had a couple of misspelled names and one police man who was only a lieutenant, I originally called a captain. Those mistakes were corrected, but the ones in Field's own article, still there.
The Miami Herald editors or perhaps Fields herself also made basic typographical errors. There is nobody called "Archive McKay." His name is Archie. And there is nobody called Abdul Mushin. His name is Abdul Muhsin. You gotta be a close reader for those mistakes to be visible. Those are two published errors that still stand and that are easy to make but wrong nonetheless. What those mistakes do is affect the ability to search for the past in the future.
Other mistakes in her article are the timeline of my work. I emailed the right info, nobody responded. The Herald is not what it used to be.
I started my People's History of Overtown book in 2009, and that is how I found out about Henry Stone, not the other way around.
And I am not from Mexico City, but I moved from there to 11 blocks west of LeJeune in 1988 and attended Little Carver Elementary, where I got my funk. And I have lived all over the county ever since.
Fields declined to share what info was inaccurate in my work when I asked her directly and I find that objectionable. I did not use her archives in any way to write my book. At the time, her headquarters were between locations and charged more than I could afford anyway. I'm a fourth generation journalist who grew up right here most of my life. I know how to do everything I do to get everything done through hard work, great instincts, extensive network, good timing, luck, and honesty. So I built my own archive from my own personal work, research, interviews, and text/photo/audio/video creations.
I believe that's called the Ingenuity Paradox, where greater constraints can produce greater output through forced creativity.
So, no matter what my budget is, my result is always 10x or 100x what people think it would or should be. Which also works at scale, which is the whole point.
Dr. Fields is a pioneer, going back with her and her family in Miami to before 1896. Original city charter. Incorporation. Majority of voters. I point out what she got wrong about me, but I respect her and what she built.
Although it seemed to take a couple of extra decades for Sam Rabin to get the credit for his paintings advertising performers at the Sir John Hotel and The Knight Beat, which he owned.
So thanks Dr. Fields for reading, thinking about, and writing about my work, and there's always more on the way just around the corner.
Stay tuned