Author to speak about surprising connection to 1912 Harris County lynching

Columbus native Karen Branan has been a journalist for nearly half a century. Her work has appeared in national magazines, major newspapers and on network and cable TV.

Living in Washington, D.C., she has covered racial issues from as far away as the Rodney King beating in California to as near as the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit. Then the news that she was about to have a mixed-race granddaughter made her professional work become personal.

“I felt terrified by her impending birth, a strange thing since I’d been doing civil rights work most of my adult life,” Branan, 74, told the Ledger-Enquirer in an emailed interview. “I felt haunted, drawn back into some old things. Nightmares. I didn’t set out to write a book. I set out to answer some old, nagging questions and to find out what was haunting me.”