Pre-sale of the book of my work in Princeville, ORIGINS: Climate Change, Resistance, and Solutions in Princeville, North Carolina, America’s Oldest Incorporated Black Town. The first 50 copies are for $60.00 USD (plus shipping and handling) which will reserve you a copy of the linen hardcover perfect bound 10x8 , ~150ish-page book, which will include the stories Homecoming 1+2, The Soil Farmers, and The Whales of Fishing Creek, and 70 pages of photos—including some not published with the original stories—illustrations, maps and graphics. AND you will get a signed 8x10 work print of this photo of Bruce, the first big Megalodon tooth I found fossil hunting, scaled so that it is life-sized. I’ll also give you a shout out in the thank you page in the book! After publishing, the regular price will be $40.00 USD but no print included.

Origins is a three-part photography and reporting project that explores how climate change is exacerbating hurricanes that cause the Tar River to flood Princeville, North Carolina—the oldest town in America founded by formerly enslaved Black people. The series investigates what Princeville is doing to become more climate resilient, as well as natural climate solutions in eastern North Carolina. The project is a partnership between The Coastal Review, NC Newsline, The Solutions Journalism Network and the Pulitzer Center.

The first chapter explores how climate change and the ecological emergency are one crisis driven by the same colonialism that created segregated towns like Princeville and how these floods are the result of racist policies and destruction of ecosystems. It centers a few characters, including Marquetta Dickens, a young queer Black woman who is moving home to Princeville to run her grassroots non-profit, that, in the spirit of Princeville’s ancestors, is dedicated to historical preservation, increasing community self-sufficiency, Black autonomy and teaching sustainable farming that addresses food inequities and climate change. Its overall mission encourages what I call “climate resistance” by building climate resilience and resisting white supremacy and its injustices. It also explores what the town is doing to become more climate resilient, and celebrates their courage because courage is what is needed in the fight against climate change, and people need to see themselves in climate action.



The other chapters explore climate solutions, including a Black farmer who uses sustainable agriculture methods like low-till farming which holds carbon in the ground and rebuilds soil that was destroyed by antebellum cotton farming. The final chapter uses the story of whale fossils buried under Princeville to reveal what prehistoric climates can tell us about our future, what whales can teach us about natural marine climate solutions, and about how the fates of Black people and whales are an interconnected justice issue.

Copyright © 2024 by Justin Cook, 

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023913623

ISBN: 978-1-7376753-2-7

First Edition, June 2024

Word editing by Lisa Sorg

Illustrations by Bex Glendining, www.lgions.com/

Published in partnership with The Pulitzer Center Connected Coastlines Initiative

All photographs © 2019-2024 Justin Cook

www.justincookphoto.com

Instagram: @justincookphoto

Printed by Conveyor Studio in Jersey City, New Jersey,

Published by Tiburon Editions in Durham, N.C.