Sharon J Willis

Vine City Blues Sharon J Willis

VINE CITY BLUES: Hattie Mae Davis, a grandmother living in the Vine City area of Atlanta, is seen as a strong pillar of her community. Even so, her domineering character -- salty tongue and all -- does not spare her from the sinister effects of segregation and racial injustices levied on black people during the rise of the modern Civil Rights Movement in 1955. Her eldest granddaughter, Sadie Marie, living in her grandmother's house along with her rebellious younger sister, is a student at Atlanta University pursuing a master's degree in Social Work while desperately trying to break the strong hold of her grandmother's apron strings. Sadie also faces her own battle with "double consciousness," a dilemma defined by Dr. W. E. B. Dubois, and finally, she must come to terms with the adverse effect of the "Mess-Education of the Negro" upon black community educational, economical, and political progress. In spite of the internal struggles of her community cultivated by the external factors of Jim Crow, the community, as within most black areas during this time, forges their own advancement by opening up successful businesses, developing political organizations like the N. A. A. C. P. to fight racial injustice, and holding fast to the idea that the village, the wisdom of the elders, the passion of the youth, and the leaders of the church were the pathway to survival. Although the novel is fictional, the story was written contextually to include relevant historical events.