ELLA WILLIAMS - ABOMAH THE 8' FT TALL AFRICAN GIANTESS

Ella Williams, was a singer, a performer and a giantess.She was born Ella Grigsby in South Carolina in 1865 ten months after the ratification of the 13th amendment. Ella went to work for Elihu and Harriet Williams when as a teenager. Perhaps because Grigsby was the family name of her parent's former slave holders, Ella dropped her father's slave master's inherited name for Williams. Ella supposedly was 8 feet tall. Her height is said to have started increasing mysteriously after she survived malaria when she was14. Her extraordinary height drew a lot of attention and soon "show promoters" started approaching her with offers but she refused. However, working as a Black maid and a cook didn't earn her much to live on, so she changed her mind and met a man named Frank C. Bostock who became her manager. With his help, Ella started touring Europe making appearances at shows where people paid to see "The African Giantess".

Ella began to tour as a sideshow performer under the name “Abomah”. It was a name derived from "Abomey", a capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey, currently Benin. Her career started in Europe, since Bostock believed she would be better accepted there than in America where racial tensions were extremely high. #ELLAWILLIAMS #ABOMAH #THEAFRICANGIANTESS