Microblog Four: History Intersects with Fiction

So today I've realized that I have not provided any historical context for this book...

So now I'd like to address a major concern:

This book is set in the 1970s.

Although this may seem like an unnecessary fact, the time period is actually extremely relevant to much of the book. In fact, Darlene's husband died to to a white group of men burning his shop. Now, I know what you're thinking. One instance of racial barriers is not enough to make something a running priority throughout a book. What makes this an extremely prevalent idea throughout the novel, is the number of instances in which race is the main cause of argument or anger. For instance, when Eddie enters the owner of Delicious Foods's house for the first time, the man says "don't touch a goddamn thing lessen I say" (Hannaham 234). This may not seem like much, but Sextus says this to Eddie mainly because of his ethnicity. At this point, African Americans are struggling to fight for equal rights despite obstacles such as Sextus who have underlying beliefs of a "primitive nature" among African people. Another instance of racism is seen when Nat is campaigning for support from the black people in his town. No matter how hard he tries to convince people with his argument focused on fighting for rights, many of the people are afraid to join either out of fear of being attacked or out of the sadness of seeing situations like these go down in the past. One man had actually stated that his main reason for not helping the campaign was because of seeing a girl kidnapped and raped by white people after a similar endeavor. 

Sorry for not mentioning this earlier, but now you guys may have an easier time understanding the complexities between black and white characters when they interact within my book.