In 1873, a group of around 50 African Americans facing threats from the Ku Klux Klan in their hometown of Cross Anchor in Spartanburg County, left in the middle of the night for the western North Carolina mountains. They named a king and queen, built a two-story palace and called their new kingdom Happy Land. Bestselling author Dolen Perkins-Valdez has written a novel with the same title based on this incredible true story.
