Dessa Rose, by Sherley Anne Williams, is a book about two women, one black and the other white, in the mid 1800's during times of oppression and slavery. Its purpose is to bring the reader into the story of how these women suffered through their own battles and how they overcame the social and political boundaries set for them before they were ever born. The author has written two books of poetry, Some One Sweet Angel Chile and The Peacock Poems. She has written other stories, critical essays and a play. She is a professor of literature at the University of California.
The author has organized the book into sections that were characterizations of Dessa. The names of the sections were The Darky, The Wench and The Negress. She goes back and forth in the time frame of Dessa's story and makes it slightly hard to follow at first. .
Chapters one and two introduce us to Dessa. Dessa has been accused of killing her master and is set to die by hanging. She has only been spared thus far because she is pregnant. She is being kept shackeled in the cellar of the Sheriff under lock and key. A journalist by the name of Adam Nehemiah that is trying to interview "The Darky" in trying to understand what would make this slave girl kill her master. The man has much difficulty at first even getting her to speak but soon she started telling the story of her beloved Kaine. Kaine worked at the master's house and Dessa was a field hand. They fell in love and became married. Marriage among slaves were not seen as an acutaly legal procedure at that time but an exchange of vows between the two people. Kaine enjoyed making a banjo and playing it for Dessa and he sang to her often. The master broke Kaine's banjo out of mean determination and Kaine became angry with him. The master hit Kaine on the head with a shovel and killed him with absolutely no regard to human life. The slaves were not treated as humans, they were treated worse than animals and the chapters go into great detail of the horrific living conditions that they had to endure.