The Archive · History & Preservation
They can't erase what we refuse to forget.
We are living through a moment when history books are being rewritten, libraries are being defunded, and stories are being pulled off shelves. The Archive is this studio's answer. I document community history through my lens, celebrate the librarians and archivists holding the line, and keep a running shelf of resources so you can read freely, preserve your family's story, and pass the record on intact.
Nelson Mandela & the Invictus Poem
William Ernest Henley wrote Invictus from a hospital bed in 1875, after tuberculosis took his leg. A century later, Nelson Mandela carried those same sixteen lines through twenty-seven years of imprisonment, reciting them to his fellow prisoners on Robben Island to keep their spirits unbroken. Four words survived everything the world threw at that man: master of my fate, captain of my soul. He walked out unconquered and led a nation to do the same. That is the story this studio is named after, and the standard I hold every frame to.
The Obama Foundation
I am a 2026 Founding Member of the Obama Foundation, the year the Obama Presidential Center opens its doors on the South Side of Chicago. A presidential center built as a working archive, a museum, and a library branch in a neighborhood that raised a president. That is exactly the kind of record-keeping this page exists to celebrate.
Your voice matters: on the page, in the press, at the polls. That is the creed over at the history desk, and these three shelves are how you act on it.
Free Libraries of the Internet
- Internet ArchiveMillions of free books, films, and recordings, preserved forever
- Open LibraryBorrow digital books free with one account
- Digital Public Library of AmericaPhotographs, letters, and archives from across the country
- Library of CongressThe nation's memory, free to explore
- Project GutenbergOver 70,000 classic books at no cost
- Little Free LibraryTake a book. Share a book. Neighborhood book boxes you can borrow from, stock, or start yourself
Defend the Right to Read
- ALA Banned & Challenged BooksTrack what is being challenged and how to respond
- PEN America Book Bans IndexThe national count of removed titles
- Unite Against Book BansTake action in your own school district
- Island SPACE Caribbean MuseumCaribbean history and art in South Florida, where my own work has hung
- Broward County LibraryHome of the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center
- I Love LibrariesFight for library funding and the people who keep the doors open
Use Your Voice
- Register to VoteTwo minutes with When We All Vote, and you are on the rolls
- Check Your RegistrationRolls get purged. Verify yours before every election
- Know When to VoteDates, deadlines, and rules for your state
- Find Your Congressional MemberKnow exactly who represents you, then tell them what you think
- Protect My Public MediaStand up for public broadcasting and the free press
Support Local Newspapers
Democracy is a local story first.
Every masthead below gave a community a mirror, and gave me a byline. Local newsrooms are vanishing across the country, and when they go, the record goes with them. Subscribe to your local paper, even the small one. Especially the small one.
The Papers That Raised Me
- The Cobra ChronicleThe school paper that gave a sixteen-year-old her first byline. Student journalism counts
- Caribbean National WeeklySouth Florida's Caribbean voice, where my stories and photos run today
- The Palm Beach PostMy hometown daily, and one of my first published credits
- The GleanerJamaica's paper of record since 1834
- National GeographicThe yellow border that started the dream
Keep Journalism Alive
- Report for AmericaPlacing journalists in the newsrooms communities lost
- Institute for Nonprofit NewsFind and fund the nonprofit newsroom covering your area
- Student Press Law CenterDefending student journalists like the one I used to be
- News Literacy ProjectFree tools for telling real reporting from noise
- Poynter InstituteThe craft, ethics, and future of the free press
Read One This Month
A standing shelf of frequently banned and challenged books worth your time. Get a library card, borrow one, and keep it moving. Publishers are in this fight too: browse HarperCollins's banned and challenged books collection for more titles they refuse to let disappear.
Want the deep dives? Follow @invictushistory, the studio's history desk on Instagram.