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Alumni Spotlight: Professor Sharony Green Transforms Family Stories into Powerful History
by Writing Workshops Staff
2 weeks ago
We're thrilled to celebrate one of our remarkable alumni, Professor Sharony Green, on the publication of her forthcoming book. Sharony participated in our Writing Workshop in Iceland under the expert guidance of nonfiction instructor Isaac Fitzgerald, and her experience there helped shape her approach to storytelling in profound ways.
A Personal History Coming to Life
This October 10, 2025, Sharony's book Voices from a Black Miami Neighborhood: The Baa Haas, Liberty City, the Grove, and Beyond (Palgrave Studies in Oral History) will be published in hardcover. This intensely personal and universally resonant work uses memoir and oral histories to illuminate the experiences of African American residents in Miami before and after World War II.
The book centers on the 'Baa Haas,' an outlying Miami-Dade County community that became home to Hard Rock Stadium. Sharony traces how federal initiatives—from New Deal relocations to the 1944 GI Bill and the Fair Housing Act of 1968—created both opportunities and challenges for Black homeowners. Her narrative reveals how two federal programs ultimately collided to create positive gains for the oppressed, offering hope for readers facing today's gentrification challenges.
Pre-order Voices from a Black Miami Neighborhood to experience this compelling blend of personal narrative and historical scholarship.
The Iceland Workshop Influence
Sharony's experience with Isaac Fitzgerald in Iceland proved pivotal to her writing approach. As she reflects: "It's not easy getting a literary style book by hard-core historians published, but my final peer reviewer understood why I needed to tell the story the way I did, and aside from suggesting a couple of sources, told me what Isaac said, 'Let the text breathe. Take your time telling the story. Take your time.'"
Isaac Fitzgerald, the New York Times bestselling author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts, and frequent Today Show contributor, brought his expertise in narrative nonfiction to help Sharony find her authentic voice. His guidance in allowing the text to breathe enabled Sharony to craft a work that bridges academic rigor with deeply personal storytelling.
About Our Featured Alumna
Sharony Green is a Professor of History at the University of Alabama with deep roots in South Florida. Born and raised there, she descends from people of the American South and the Bahamas—many of whom are featured in her forthcoming book. Her scholarly work consistently explores how human beings encounter one another in complicated ways, a theme evident across her publications including Teaching Public History Creatively in Alabama (Routledge, 2024) and The Chase and Ruins: Zora Neale Hurston in Honduras (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023).
Her diverse background, from her 2021 Mellon fellowship at Chicago's Newberry Library to her innovative approaches to public history, demonstrates the kind of multi-faceted perspective that enriches our workshop communities.
Join Our Writing Community
Sharony's story illustrates the power of our destination writing retreats, where writers work alongside accomplished instructors in inspiring locations. Our Iceland workshop, led by instructors like Isaac Fitzgerald, provides the perfect environment for writers to develop their craft while surrounded by breathtaking landscapes that spark creativity.
Ready to begin your own writing journey? Explore our destination retreats and discover how the right combination of expert instruction, inspiring location, and dedicated writing time can transform your project.
