Journey of a Cotton Blossom

By Jennifer Crocker-Villegas

Born amid the bigotry of the Deep South, mixed-race Joseph is a slave in all but name. Separated from his mother at birth, he yearns to run away from his loveless home and find her. It’s a journey that will take him from plantation to plantation and hardship to hardship, yielding joy, sorrow, and love along the way.
Years later, Joseph’s son, Isaiah, faces his own journey: coming to terms with his homosexuality. But society is still slow to accept change, and Isaiah fears rejection from even those closest to his heart.
From 1940s Mississippi to the civil rights era of the ’60s and the push for LGBT equality, Journey of a Cotton Blossom follows three generations of a family fighting for liberation. J. C. Villegas paints an eye-opening story that will inspire readers to open their hearts to love. Though her characters face different types of discrimination, they all draw strength from love and from their faith in God. Can Joseph find the mother he has never met? Can Isaiah survive injustice and adversity? And can they each learn to love themselves in the face of a world that challenges their right to exist?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brown Books Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781612549521

Jennifer Crocker-Villegas

J.C. Villegas was born and raised in the South, spending most of her days in Mississippi. Since childhood she has been a strong advocate seeking justice and the humane treatment of animals and people. Throughout her lifetime she has seen and experienced a great deal of prejudice, more often administered in minute ways as opposed to the grand gestures of hatred we hear about almost daily in the news. No matter the size of the gesture, she has seen how prejudice affects people on a personal and family level, as well as how it affects our society. Although she has been described as a natural storyteller, J.C. Villegas had not planned on writing a book. But as strange as it may seem this story came to her in a dream. She did not act on the dream immediately. In fact it took almost nine months of continually having this persisting and strengthening dream before she took action. With this actionJourney of a Cotton Blossom was born through her.