How It All Goes Down
- Bessie feels rage at the passing of Jim Crow. Now she has to deal with both the run-of-the-mill ignorant racists and the condescending white people who think that black people "were all stupid" (4.12.8).
- Even at a young age, Bessie realizes that her darker shade makes her more of a target of racism than her light-skinned family members. This dynamic exists within the black community as well, although her parents forbid any of that in their home.
- Although the sisters are often offered housekeeping jobs, they manage to go through life without ever working "for white people" in their "entire lives" (4.12.11). Epic win.
- Then the lynchings start. Now black people can be rounded up and killed for looking at someone the wrong way. At the worst time, entire families are killed.