New book tells the story of the everyday life struggles of a Black woman and her determination to live a life different from those of her ancestors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Barbara Johnson felt compelled to tell her story so others may benefit from her painful experiences, failings, and triumphs. It is for this reason she writes “A Head of Cabbage: A Memoir” (published by Balboa Press), the story of the everyday life struggles of a Black woman and her determination to live a life different from those of her ancestors.
Barbara was 18 when her father threatened to kill her if she went to school against his will. A sharecropper since he lost his farm in 1956, he needed her on the farm to help plant their annual tobacco crop. She would often sneak away to school, but her mother would retrieve her before her second class started and return her to the fields. Then, after the workday was over, she studied unassigned chapters hoping that she would not get behind in her class assignments due to absences from school.
Johnson’s father believed living off the land was the best option for southern Black people. He never encouraged his children to seek an education; he saw how education had not helped many black people financially and had an extreme distrust of white people and the government.
Eventually, Johnson was accepted into Bennett College, a predominately-Black all-girls school, though she left college after her junior year to marry her high school sweetheart. Then, while pregnant, she discovered that her husband was gay and had a lover living next door.
“This book shares the human conditions and challenge, some of which are not ordinary. It has all the elements of a good read. Sexual molestation, homosexuality, gun violence, failures and triumphs of the main character, a bit of race relations, and it’s a love story. It touches many facets of society,” Johnson says. When asked what she wants readers to take away from the book, she answers, “Release, healing, inspiration, joy and for all of us to become better people tomorrow than we are today.”
“A Head of Cabbage: A Memoir”
By Barbara Johnson
Hardcover | 6 x 9in | 370 pages | ISBN 9798765230305
Softcover | 6 x 9in | 370 pages | ISBN 9798765230282
E-Book | 370 pages | ISBN 9798765230299
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
About the Author
Barbara Johnson was born and raised in North Carolina. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Bennett College. She won first place in the Jacobs/Jones African American Literary Contest and in the Charlotte Writers Club in 2020 with an excerpt from “A Head of Cabbage,” which is her first published book. She lives with her husband, George Davis, in North Carolina.
Balboa Press, a division of Hay House, Inc. – a leading provider in publishing products that specialize in self-help and the mind, body, and spirit genres. Through an alliance with the worldwide self-publishing leader Author Solutions, LLC, authors benefit from the leadership of Hay House Publishing and the speed-to-market advantages of the self-publishing model. For more information, visit balboapress.com. To start publishing your book with Balboa Press, call 844-682-1282 today.
