Blackberry Women

About the Book

During the pre-industrial age, many black farmers barely existed on rural plantations in poverty stricken isolated communities. My concept of family life on a rural farm, extending from planting and harvesting seasons to city migration, is depicted through some devastating episodes. These episodes weaken family stability and weave themselves in and out of the lives of black farmers.

No one has dared to reveal the issues black women confronted on rural farms, but this book brings to focus some tragic images from social and moral perspectives. Attention is drawn to the fact that exchanging farm life for a better one in big cities is sometimes more hurtful than remaining on poor rural farms. It is with hope and pride that Blackberry Women will bring to focus the hardships and struggles one family endured.

The devastating episodes revealed in the novel have lain dormant in the memory of African Americans far too long. The author hopes that the readers will reflect upon a few vivid incidents and consign them to historical fiction. It is with these thoughts that the author created Blackberry Women.

About the Author

Ella O. Williams is an experienced writer of the social and moral life of African Americans. Her writing experience began during undergraduate work at St. Paul’s College. Later, while studying for a master’s degree at New York University, Dr. Williams wrote many essays and scholarly papers about the life and literature of African Americans. Clark Atlanta University gave her the opportunity to delve more deeply into African American literature. It was here that she studied and wrote her first publication: The Harlem Renaissance: A Handbook. For this publication, she achieved the Doctor of Arts degree in Humanities.

Dr Williams taught English, African American Literature, and Ethnic Humanities at Pierce College for over twenty-four years. During her tenure there, she began writing the early experiences of growing up on a farm in America.

She has published several books. Among them is her most recent publication, Strength To Carry On. (Minerva Press, London, 1998).