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.
Quote #4
"The next award is the award most special to my heart. A race is judged by its literacy, the ability of its members to read." (7.19)
So begins Mr. Mosely's presentation speech for Abby's award. Again we see the burden to represent their entire race put on these students' shoulders. While Abby's clearly an excellent student, even her success is racialized.
Quote #5
Cherokee Strip Day arrived. On Cherokee Strip Day there was an annual parade in the name of the Iroquoian Indians who were relocated from North Carolina and Georgia to Oklahoma. The parade generally lasted for hours and was one event that no one in Ponca liked to miss. (11.2)
Cherokee Strip Day winds up being important in the book primarily not for racial reasons, but we wanted to point out the seeming affinity between the black residents of Ponca City and the Indian residents. Everyone turns out for this parade, and in a time when racism is alive and well, we might recognize this as a display of solidarity between marginalized populations.
Quote #6
"My mama's not home."
"Yes, you told me. I'll wait for her." The woman entered the house without being invited.
Once inside, the county woman looked Abby up and down like she was inspecting a can of vegetables on a store shelf. (14.15-17)
Interestingly, at this point, "the county woman" has already given her name—it's Miss Miller—and yet the author continues to refer to her as "the county woman," letting us know that Abby sees her as more of an archetype than anything else. Abby, in other words, is wary. And rightly so—after all, Miss Miller waltzes into her house uninvited, which is majorly disrespectful. Do you think she would do the same to a white family?
Quote #7
When the county woman came back to the girl standing in the living room, shifting her weight from foot to foot, she hiked up the girl's dress to inspect the cleanliness of her drawers. (14.22)
Whoa, whoa, whoa… not cool, county woman. Not. Cool. Just as we asked when she walked into the house uninvited, do you think she'd disrespect a white child the same way?
Quote #8
Abby shrieked and ran out of the room. She came back brandishing a sour mop still wet from that afternoon's scrubbing.
"Get out of here, you white witch!" she yelled.
The county woman retreated a step. "I won't authorize you to get one cent from this county if you don't put that thing down, you dirty n*****!" (14.22-24)
Yikes. This is how the county woman responds to Abby not taking kindly to her looking up her dress without permission. We're thinking the county isn't exactly on Team Black People if it employs people who treat black people this way. That there's some institutionalized racism, for you. Oh, and race is definitely on Abby's radar, though this is the only time we hear her talk about it.
Quote #9
"My daddy told me the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice. Now I know what he meant. I been blessed ever since I saw you picking cotton that fist time. When you stood up at the end of your row, I could see you had country legs. A blackberry-colored, dark-eyed, bowlegged woman." (25.16)
In one of the rare physical descriptions in the book that speaks directly to race, Mother Barker is described as the most beautiful thing her husband has ever seen. Race is largely left out of physical descriptions—a move which normalizes blackness (ever notice how whiteness is rarely mentioned?).
Quote #10
"Call the police, they look at you like you're some kind of old dog," Lily Norene said.
"Have you tried that?"
"No. Winnie Mae told me about the time she tried talking to the law. They think you must like getting whipped." (27.9-11)
Lily Norene is explaining why she can't escape her abusive husband here. As the conversation unfolds, it's generally implied that the reason the cops won't help is because she's a woman, but do you think race might play a part in this, too?