Jesse J. Holland, born on June 28, 1971, in Holly Springs, Mississippi, penned The Force Awakens: Finn's Story. Furthermore, Holland authored the nonfiction work The Invisibles: The Untold Story of African American Slavery Inside The White House, in addition to Black Men Built The Capitol: Discovering African American History In and Around Washington, D.C. He also serves as a race and ethnicity reporter for the Associated Press, and previously covered the White House, Supreme Court, and Congress.