[1] She was raised in the projects on the east side of Bakersfield and picked cotton and fruit with her parents and three sisters in the fields and orchards of Fresno, California.

She then went on to Fresno Middle school and had an eighth grade science teacher recognize her potential and encouraged her to take college prep courses.

[1] In 1968, Williams gave birth to her son John Malcom, becoming a single mother; following this her career began taking off and she moved to Providence Rhode, Island.

During her first year at Brown, in 1968, Williams received publicity for the first time, putting out a first person narrative of a short story "Tell Martha Not to Moan".

[7] Her second poetry collection, Some Sweet Angel Chile, published in 1982, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and received praise in the New York Times, having been translated to several languages and later adopted into a musical.

[8] Her novel Dessa Rose (1986) was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, received two laudatory reviews in The New York Times in 1986, called "artistically brilliant, emotionally affecting, and totally unforgettable" by David Bradley[1] was translated into several languages, and was adapted into a musical that premiered in 2005.

Three of the songs featured on the album were previously-written poems by Williams recorded in musical format: "One-Sided Bed Blues", "Big Red And His Brother", and "The Wishon Line".