How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Abby unlaced her shoes and climbed the tree where she looked down on the backyards of the colored part of town. They reminded her of a picturesque quilt, these various irregular-shaped plots of land. The inside of the patches bloomed a pattern of crinkly lettuce, lush collards and mustards, long green beans, succulent yellow corn, and juicy red tomatoes. The natural fences of rambling roses, heather hedges, and crawling vines formed the seams of the quilt. (6.40)
Two things happen in this passage: It's made clear that Ponca City is a segregated town, and it's also made clear that Abby finds "the colored part of town" beautiful. It's an interesting moment. At once, we both see racism in action and get a sense of Abby's pride in her community.
Quote #2
Abby scanned the newspaper for events that might be interesting to the older woman. "Mother Barker, it says here that over in Ardmore the police shot another black man. Name of Teddy Walker."
"That's a shame. Read on, daughter."
Abby noted, as she read on, that it was called justifiable homicide. She could not fathom why they would call it justifiable until she got to the end of the article when mention was made that the police thought the victim was brandishing a gun. However, no gun was found.
"Well," grumbled Mother Barker, "they won't even say what happened to the dead man's family. There's some things that never get recorded." (6.80-83)
The key word to notice in the first paragraph of this quote is "another." In other words, Teddy Walker isn't the first black man shot by the police recently. And as Mother Barker notes, there's not even a mention of his family—an omission that suggests disrespect for both Teddy Walker's value, as well as the value of the people he's related to.
Quote #3
"And we are gathered here," he continued," students and faculty of Attucks School, to honor these most worthy young scholars. And worthy they are. Worthy to be standing in these hallowed halls. Worthy to be students of Attucks, the school named for that exemplary American, Crispus Attucks, first man to die in the American Revolution. And he was a colored man. We do Crispus Attucks proud today. We do our race proud today." (7.10)
This book is set before schools were desegregated, and race permeates this passage: The school is named after Crispus Attucks, a runaway slave who was killed in the Boston Massacre, and the students attending this award ceremony are told they are a point of pride for their race. Instead of simply being excellent students, Abby and her peers shoulder the burden of representing their entire race in an era riddled with racism, too. Ugh.