Summary
The story is about a black family that lives after the civil war, but when racism is still prevalent. The members of the family are Cassie (the main character who tells the story), Stacey (who is a boy), Christopher-John, Little Man, their mother (Mary), and Big Ma (their grandmother). Their father (David) is also a part of the family and has a good relationship with everyone, but works far away and only sometimes comes home. They are the Logan family. They own some land, having bought a piece of land from a man who owns much more. Their mom works as a teacher at The Great Faith Elementary and Secondary School, the school that they go to. They are all friends with a kid named T.J., whom they kind of hate because he’s a little rude and quirky. T.J. is part of the Avery family, which Cassie’s family is close with. Other members of the Avery family are nice people and love their son but hope he changes. Stacey is also friends with a white kid named Jeremy (who is also one of the few white people in this book that is not racist). However, his sister, Lillian Jean, is rude to the children.
Cassie, Stacey, Christopher-John, and Little Man all walk to school together. The school bus that white kids ride always tries to splash something on them, and they have to hide themselves.
On the first day of school, the kids get new books. Students were excited, but later found out that they were in very poor condition because many white kids had used the books before them. Mary, as a teacher of the school, changes the cover of the book and teaches historically accurate materials outside the book as she thinks it is the correct thing.
Dad is back from work for a short time. He brought Mr. Morrison to live with the family. David thinks he is a good person, but got fired wrongly. He lives in a separate part of the house. They discuss that there is a place called the Wallace store where black people are burned by white people and fear it. Their parents warn the kids not to go there.
Since the white school bus always splashes dirty things on Cassie and the boys, they decide to take revenge by digging a hole for the bus to fall into and get broken. They succeed but fear that they will get caught and get burned.
The land that Cassie’s family owns was bought during the Reconstruction from the Grangers because the Grangers couldn’t pay taxes. They always tried to buy it back, but Cassie’s family loved the land that they had. The people who don’t have any land have to work in the lands of others. They are forced to shop in the Wallace store because they get no money before they get paid from the farm. Only the Wallace store allows a buy-now-pay-later system, or give credit, as this book calls it. Cassie’s family shops in Vicksburg.
Stacey fights with T.J. at the Wallace store because T.J. cheats on the test that Mary gave, and confesses it. Cassie and the boys decide to no longer be friends with T.J.
Wade W. Jamison, an attorney that Big Ma knew, agreed to help people shop in Vicksburg instead to stop the Wallaces’ monopoly.
Cassie visits another town named Strawberry. She went to Mr. Barnett’s store, but the owner helped the white customers first. Cassie’s mad about it, but Stacey makes her leave. Cassie bumps into Lillian Jean, and although not her fault, is forced to apologize. Big Ma also makes her apologize, which Cassie is mad about. Cassie tells this to Uncle Hammer, a go-getter who cannot condone injustice. He leaves to confront the racist people but is convinced to retreat.
Stacey loses his nice coat because T.J. took it, saying that he will give it back when Stacey fits into it. Hammer thinks Stacey should keep it because it will teach Stacey a lesson not to be so stupid.
Cassie pretends to get close to Lillian Jean but beats her up later. She threatens to tell her secrets if she tells others.
Cassie’s mother gets fired from her job because her family keeps scheming about getting people out of the influence of the Wallaces.
T.J. claims to have gotten better white friends named R.W. and Melvin.
Papa goes out of town with Stacey and Mr. Morrison and gets his leg hurt, and cannot work. The Logan family is short on money. Uncle Hammer gives them lots of money.
R.W. and Melvin take T.J. to rob a store, alluring him by saying that he’ll get a pearl-handed pistol. The owner catches them, but R.W. and Melvin were wearing masks and T.J. wasn’t. R.W. and Melvin kill the owner and the owner’s wife sees this. She thinks the robbers are three black boys and identifies T.J. T.J. flees the scene and the Wallaces come to catch him. T.J. seeks help from Stacey and the other kids. Cassie and the boys tell their parents. Papa secretly lights cotton on fire so that people looking for T.J. can focus on taking the fire out. T.J. was eventually caught, not by the Wallaces, but sent to the police.
Review
This book is well-written, with words that are easy to understand as they are given from the perspective of Cassie. It leaves readers curious about what happens to Vicksburg. The book also first introduces T.J. as a mean character, but then makes readers care about him more as he gets wrongly accused of a crime. The ending was not disappointing, as it would have been a bit trite if it was just “people are now free from the Wallaces and everyone is happy”.
This story tells how much racial injustice affected black people in the U.S. even after slaves were freed. We first see this in the part where white and black students are segregated in schools and black kids get books already used multiple times by white people. It is next shown when a white family has undue power over black people in town, where the workers in his farms are forced to shop in the Wallace store. Not to mention they could beat up black people and fire them if they wanted to and could get away with it. The last part then implies another injustice for readers to think about. Yes, T.J. managed to escape getting killed by the vigilantes. However, in that society, he will likely get sentenced to death anyway since the store owner’s wife identified him as the thief and murderer, and he won’t get a fair trial.
This story is not directly related to me, since I live in a monocultural country, but it still makes us appreciate that social movements have helped society. Even after the abolitionist movement succeeded and legal reforms were made, microaggression is real and was even more real in the past, and fighting against it has been necessary.
I recommend this book to people who want to hear the story of a girl who overcomes the difficulties of a racial society, and her family that fights against oppression. It has a great character buildup that will keep readers interested in the plot throughout the whole book.