White Lilacs

Rose Lee goes home and tells Poppa and the men in his shop about what she heard at the dinner. She notes that her family reacts the same way they did last time she had news—her father thinks, Henry gets angry, and her mother cries. Despite Henry’s anger, Poppa insists that the white people can do whatever they want, and there is little the Black community can do to stop them. Throughout the conversation, Rose Lee assumes that the people of Freedom, who she considers one big “family” (71), will just move somewhere together. However, she is devastated to learn that Cora’s husband, Raymond, has already talked about going back to Oklahoma.

Rose Lee and her family spend the next couple weeks preparing for Juneteenth, a celebration in Freedom to honor the day that Texas’s enslaved people “got word that they were free” in 1865 (73). The day before, Aunt Susannah comes to Freedom. She is Poppa’s younger sister, and Rose Lee goes with Poppa to get her at the train station. Rose Lee is immediately impressed by how pretty and well-dressed Susannah is, thinking that it must be because Susannah went to college. They drop Susannah off at the boardinghouse in Freedom, then Rose Lee goes to the Bells’ house to serve dinner.

Rose Lee and Aunt Tillie spend all night at the Bells’ house. Mrs. Bell has her brother and his wife there for dinner, as well as several members of the community for a party. Aunt Tillie is responsible for dinner that night, as well as for the next day since she does not work on Sunday. She notes how Mrs. Bell always manages to have a party the night before a Black holiday, which she believes is out of “meanness.” Because of how busy the party is, Rose Lee hears little of the conversation and gets home late that night, exhausted.

Sunday morning, Juneteenth, Rose Lee goes to get Susannah from the boardinghouse. She is shocked by her bright red outfit—dress, shoes, hat, and umbrella. She also notices how Susannah is unbothered by the dust and unpaved street, walking without a care for her clean shoes and clothes.

Rose Lee takes Susannah to see her grandfather’s garden. Susannah comments on all the colors and notes that he is a “genius.” They are interrupted by the church bells, so they go back to Rose Lee’s home to get the rest of the family, then to Forgiveness Baptist Church.

In church, Rose Lee notices people looking at Susannah and her red dress. They sing hymns and a member of the church reads the Emancipation Proclamation. Then, Pastor Mobley delivers a sermon. He speaks about the situation with the white citizens voting to remove them from Freedom. However, when he tells the congregation that they will “go forth and rebuild” if they must “in humility,” he is interrupted by Henry shouting “No!” in the back of the church (92).

Henry comes forward and speaks to the congregation. He implores them to stop doing what the white people want and stand up for themselves. He suggests either fighting back or abandoning the white people—leaving them to do their own cooking and cleaning—and instead going to Liberia in Africa. He asks those who agree to come forward. After several uncomfortable moments, Poppa comes forward and tells Henry that he understands him, but that his family is staying in Dillon. Henry angrily leaves the church, and Pastor Mobley closes the sermon.

After they leave the church, Rose Lee can tell that Momma has been crying and Poppa looks deep in thought. She sees other members of the church looking at her family, but no one mentions Henry. She realizes that Henry’s words make her feel both “proud” and “scared” for him, and she wonders if “other folks were fighting those same battles in their heads” (96).

Members of the other church join those from Forgiveness Baptist and they march around Freedomtown singing as they do every year. However, Rose Lee is surprised that they don’t circle back into Freedom but instead turn and march to the Dillon courthouse. Rose Lee notices that white men on horseback are watching them, and she assumes that someone alerted the sheriff. They ignore the men, instead circling once around the courthouse while continuing to sing, then return to Freedom where they have a picnic with all the members of the Black community.

Partway through the day, Susannah comes forward and asks Pastor Mobley if she can speak. He introduces her, then she explains that she is visiting from St. Louis. She tells everyone that she sympathizes with their plight and sees that they have been presented with three options—fight, move their homes, or go to Africa. She tells them that, whatever decision they make, they should discuss it together and have faith in both their community and God.

After Susannah’s speech, Rose Lee notices that everyone is now openly talking about the situation. Before, it seemed that they were all whispering or pretending that nothing had happened in church. Now, they were actually discussing their options. Rose Lee listens to everyone for the rest of the afternoon and hears people talk about Marcus Garvey, the UNIA, and, even though most disagree with Henry, she sees him convince a few people to go to a meeting.

After the picnic, Rose Lee walks Susannah back to the boardinghouse. On the way, Susannah tells her that she is worried about Henry and that he could “place himself in a lot of danger” by speaking how he does (107). Rose Lee agrees and thinks of how Henry is never careful with what he says or who he says it to.

That night, Rose Lee wakes up to strange sounds and goes into the sitting room. She sees her parents looking through the blinds drawn on the window. When she looks through, she sees hundreds of members of the KKK silently marching through Freedom. When they pass, she follows her parents out into the yard, hidden behind their fence. They watch as the KKK members put a large wooden cross in the ground outside the church, then light it on fire, shouting a warning to “Remember this” and using a racial slur (109).

After the KKK leaves, the members of Freedom slowly come out and gather around the cross. They stand in silence and watch the cross until it burns out.