Complex sentence: It was based on what primary documents could be used, and interviews mostly with black survivors of the incident; the news attention Cedar Key and Sumner received as a result of the lawsuit discouraged white participants from offering interviews to the historians.
Split into simpler sentences: It was based on what primary documents could be used, and interviews mostly with black survivors of the incident. Due to media attention to residents of Cedar Key and Sumner as a result of the lawsuit, white participants generally refrained from offering interviews to the historians.