David J. P. Mason

David J. Mason, the great grandson of Parson Sykes, became interested in the history of the Sykes family early in life while attending family reunions and hearing stories of his mother’s ancestors from Southampton County, Virginia. The family descended from Louisa Williams Sykes, an enslaved African American matriarch who had lived on Jacob Williams’ farm in the nineteenth century. During the 1831 Southampton Insurrection, the farm came under attack by Nat Turner and his insurgents. Intrigued by what he heard at family gathering, David researched Parson, Joseph, and Henry military service and published The Self-Liberation of Parson Sykes a documentary novel based on the true self-liberation story and actual events drawn from published materials and oral family chronicles. He holds a Master of Science degree in chemistry from Hampton University, a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Norfolk State University and is a graduate of the United States Army War College