Delmarva Today: 8-21-20
My guest is author Barbara Lockhart. We’ll discuss her historical novel Elizabeth’s Field. Barbara’s novel recounts the struggles of the black population, free and slave, living on Maryland’s Eastern Shore in the 1850s. In the face of oppression, cruelty, and fear, it is the story of a people with astounding resilience and endurance whose only hope at that time was flight. Fear, in fact, is a palpable element in the novel. There is certainly fear in the black community: real fear of being captured and sold south, fear of being beaten, fear of having your daughters taken away and used as “breeders,” fear of having your sons taken away for the price they’ll bring. But there is also fear in the white community, the fear of losing their domination, the fear of losing their grip on the racist dynamic that figuratively and literally feeds their way of life.
Barbara’s novel was recognized with a silver medal from the Independent Book Publishers Award. She has also received two Individual Artist Awards in Fiction from the Maryland State Arts Council for her short stories and for her novel Requiem for a Summer Cottage. She lives on a nature reserve on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.