In many ways "The Ditchdigger's Daughters" adheres to the well worn path of a genre best described as the black struggle in an injust white America. But the real plot in this movie revolves around the tyranny of a father and the effect it has on his six daughters as he cajoles, demands, blusters, and drives his daughters to reach for his notion of excellence. Demanding all "A" report cards, prohibiting dating, punishing with housework, and insisting that each daughter aim her sights on a career as a doctor all harken to the underlying fact of his own failure to complete school, and his own view of being poor and black.