Ella May Wiggins was the stuff of legends — married young, raised children on her own when her husband ran off and worked the cotton mills of North Carolina earning only enough wages to live in poverty among African American mill workers. Tired of the life bestowed upon her without the possibility to rise above, she joined the union movement, gaining popularity for her ballads of equality. She worked 12-hour days and fought to have the union admit African Americans as well as white. Her best-known ballad, “A Mill Mother’s Lament,” was recorded by Pete Seeger and others.
Wiley Cash, who received his Ph.D. from UL-Lafayette, brings this remarkable but unassuming woman to light in his latest novel sure to win acclaim, “The Last Ballad.” He follows Ella May through her travails, the horrific work conditions in American Mill No. 2 of Bessemer City and the racial disparity existing within the South in 1929. We also peek into the lives of her African American friends, the union leaders, a shopkeeper who bought whiskey from her no-good husband and members of mill society, including mill owners with better working conditions than Ella’s own.
Some of the characters we assume are real figures in history, brushed uniquely with the author’s pen. Others, complete fabrications. And the story itself is a fictionalized account of Ella May’s desire for a better world for herself and her children, the rise and fall of the union movement in this segment of North Carolina and Ella May’s ultimate murder that occurs a few months later. (Her murder is not a spoiler; you learn this early on.)
Like his previous award-winning and best-selling novels — “A Land More Kind Than Home” is one of my all-time favorites, a stunning piece of literature — “The Last Ballad” resonates with pain, love, the struggle of life and the gross injustices of the world. I hated leaving Ella May’s world, reveled in watching her bravery against unspeakable odds and her unending support of racial equality. Along the way, Cash provided a riveting story in the details surrounding her life.
I can’t commend Cash enough, nor stop recommending his novels. He’s a unique Southern voice breathing fresh life into a long-standing literary tradition. As Ben Foundation, author of “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” wrote: “I can think of no more relevant novel for our times than ‘The Last Ballad.’” I’d add, I can’t think of no more relevant novelist for our times.
Rosemary Wells
Children’s book author Rosemary Wells will discuss “Booking Up Our Kids” at 7 p.m. Thursday, with an autograph session and reception to follow, as part of the library’s 40th Annual Author-Illustrator Program. She will also speak at a workshop geared towards teachers, writers, parents and librarians from 8 a.m. to noon Friday for $25 adults and $10 students. Both events will be held at the East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library. Wells is an author and illustrator of hundreds of children’s books who has won critical acclaim for her life’s work with awards from the International Reading Association’s Children’s Choices, the National Council of Teachers of English/Children’s Literature Assembly, the Mystery Writers of America, The New York Public Library, the American Library Association, the Children’s Book Council and many more. For information, visit www.ebrpl.com.
Coffee reads
Six books from Louisiana authors will be featured during the 2017 season of Coffee and Conversation, a literary initiative sponsored by the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival and the Jefferson Parish Library. First up is Peter Dedek, discussing “The Cemeteries of New Orleans,” at 7 p.m. Thursday in the meeting rooms of the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave., Metairie. Books will be available for sale through the Friends of the Library and the event is free and open to the public. Dedek, author of “Historic Preservation for Designers” and “Hip to the Trip: A Cultural History of Route 66,” is an associate professor at Texas State University, where he teaches history of design, historic preservation and architectural history.
Book events
Louisiana historian Meredith Melancon will retrace the steps of the slave Solomon Northup as he moved from New Orleans to Rapides Parish to Avoyelles Parish from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Ellender Memorial Library at Nicholls in Thibodaux. The talk is part of the library’s traveling exhibit from the Historic New Orleans Collection, “Purchased Lives: The American Slave Trade from 1808 to 1865.”
Military historian Martin K.A. Morgan will discuss rare footage taken with an 8mm movie camera of the attack on Pearl Harbor at 7 p.m. Thursday at the East Bank Regional Library, Metairie. Morgan’s presentation is part of the regularly scheduled meeting of the World War II Discussion Group which has met at the library for more than a decade. This event is free and open to the public. Morgan is the author of “Down to Earth—The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Normandy.”
Local authors will participate in the Books for the Bayou from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Terrebonne Parish Library in Houma. For information, visit http://mytpl.org/.
Cheré Coen is the author of several Louisiana non-fiction books and the “Viola Valentine” Louisiana paranormal mystery series under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.
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