Acknoledgements

I would like to gratefully acknowledge my cousin Jessica Augustave Alexander for her unconditional encouragement and support. I also thank my late cousin Danielle Avin and my friends Raymond Blanks, Crispin Grey-Johnson, Patricia Groins, Eric Grossman, John Labonne, Denyse Leslie, Lisa Miller, Guitèle Nicoleau, Donna Peters, and Shelia Rule. My sincere appreciation is extended to each of you.

I would like to especially acknowledge and thank Marva Allen and Regina Brooks of Open Lens for their tireless efforts on behalf of the publication of The Roving Tree; Johnny Temple, Ibrahim Ahmad, and the staff at Akashic Books; Ali Mortensen for the book cover design; and Clarence Reynolds for his editorial input. For her guidance and encouragement, I am deeply grateful to Marie D. Brown and am indebted to her for her patience, dedication, thoughtful insights, and mostly for believing in me.

Each of you have been my lakou, my support system, in the realization of The Roving Tree.