I Was Will Brown

I Was Will Brown
A Novel by Ellington Bass Sr.
On September 28, 1919, a Black man named Will Brown was lynched by a white mob in Omaha, Nebraska. Accused of a crime without evidence, dragged from jail, tortured, shot, and burned while thousands watched—his death was not just a tragedy. It was a message. A warning. A moment the city—and the nation—tried to erase.
But Will Brown was more than the flames that consumed him.
And in this novel, he finally tells his story.
I Was Will Brown is a haunting and powerful reimagining of a life cut short, written in the bold, unflinching voice of Will himself. Blending historical fact with lyrical fiction, Ellington Bass Sr. brings readers into the intimate memories, reflections, and revelations of a man history tried to silence. From his childhood in Mississippi to the streets of Omaha, from quiet love to public horror, Will's voice is clear, vulnerable, and unforgettable.
This novel does not sanitize. It does not soften. It confronts America's legacy of racial violence through the lens of a single, stolen life—and refuses to look away. And yet, even in the face of such brutality, this book is not just about death. It's about memory. It's about resistance. It's about the dignity in being seen fully, and the power in finally being heard.
Through fifty sweeping chapters, I Was Will Brown reclaims more than just a name. It resurrects a man.
We follow Will as he reflects on his life:
— The music of his mother's voice in the fields of Mississippi
— The ache of first love and the burden of being watched in a world that saw him as less than human
— The final day of his life, as fear and silence coiled around the city
— And what it means to rise from the ashes, not in revenge—but in truth
Written with poetic depth and unwavering emotional clarity, this book asks its readers:
What stories have we forgotten? Whose voices have we buried? And what does it mean to listen now?
Ellington Bass Sr., a native of Omaha, crafts this novel as both a tribute and a reckoning. He does not claim to know every detail of Will Brown's life. But through this fictionalized memoir, he offers something more powerful than history alone: humanity.
For readers of Colson Whitehead's The Nickel Boys, Jesmyn Ward's Sing, Unburied, Sing, and Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Water Dancer, I Was Will Brown belongs on the shelf of every reader who believes in the urgency of memory, the weight of legacy, and the right to be remembered with dignity.
This is not just a novel. It's an act of restoration. An offering. A voice returned to a man who never got to speak.
Praise for I Was Will Brown
"An unforgettable act of literary justice. This novel does what America failed to do—it listens."
"Devastating, poetic, and necessary."
"A masterwork of fictional testimony. Will Brown lives again in these pages."
Content warning: This novel contains references to racial violence, lynching, state complicity, and historical trauma. It is written with care, compassion, and the intent to honor the life of Will Brown and others who suffered similar injustice.
About the Author:
Ellington Bass Sr. is a writer, educator, and storyteller from Omaha, Nebraska. His work centers Black legacy, resistance, and healing through truth-telling. In I Was Will Brown, he turns silence into testimony, and remembrance into ritual.

Ellington "Lyrixx" Bass Sr. better known as RIXX is a storyteller, creator, and visionary whose work blends raw authenticity with imaginative power. As the author of the gritty urban adult fiction novel By Any Means and the cosmic children's tale Ma'Niya's Mission to the Moon, RIXX writes across genres—but always from the heart.
Born into a family that shaped his foundation, RIXX honors his roots with every page. Ma'Niya's Mission to the Moon was inspired by his real-life niece, Ma'Niya, and created as a tribute to his family—especially his mother Brenda, his brother Michael, sister-in-law Michaela, and nephews Lamont and Michael Jr.
Whether he's building fictional cities or launching young readers into space, RIXX believes in one thing above all: our stories can save us, shape us, and set us free.