Pitches wanted (fiction/nonfiction stories about reconnecting with families) | $1 per word

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: THE HARD HISTORY PROJECT

Dr. Kate Shuster, Director of The Hard History Project, is looking for pitches:

I'm looking for writers with upper elementary experience to craft fiction/nonfiction stories about the Last Seen archive. $1 per word and money for illustrators. Call for pitches is here: https://thehardhistoryproject.net/opportunities.

As the call explains: we are taking pitches for short works inspired by the Last Seen archive (Last Seen Project). When complete, these pieces will be no more than 1000 words each, and will be published on the Last Seen website, including originally commissioned illustrations.

One major purpose of these pieces is to introduce younger students to the archive. As such, all pieces must Lexile at or below fifth grade. Please don’t pitch us if you don’t have experience writing for this age group. Teachers are welcome to pitch!

If you’re stuck for ideas, consider: We’re trying to get students to encounter the archive. That might mean stories about the work of compiling this particular archive, or students in the present day encountering these advertisements and the archive.

We also very much want students to see the humans behind these advertisements - both the seekers and the sought. All grades need good history. There is so little about the domestic slave trade and its consequences in existing elementary resources.

Please do not pitch me “happy ending” stories about people reuniting through these advertisements. Pitches should be aligned with the relevant content in the Teaching Hard History instructional frameworks from Learning For Justice: https://www.learningforjustice.org/frameworks/teaching-hard-history/american-slavery/k-5-framework

Payment is $1 per published word, and $500 per published illustration.

CONTACT INFORMATION (please do not share the email address publicly):

Submissions: kate.shuster@gmail.com

Website: https://www.thehardhistoryproject.net/

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery aims to identify, digitize, transcribe, and publish ads placed in newspapers across the United States (and beyond) by formerly enslaved people searching for family members and loved ones after emancipation. More information here.
• Read through a selection of recent stories/articles on its website.
• Review the submission guidelines here.
• Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook Database and at SuccessfulPitches.com.
• Do not forget to end your pitch with (1) a short introduction about yourself; (2) a few lines highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits; and (3) links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile.

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