White Lilacs

Over the next couple weeks, Henry speaks little of what he is doing, but often does not come home or is gone for hours of the day. Rose Lee assumes he is doing something with the UNIA. Meanwhile, she listens to the people of the town talk about the upcoming vote. The men meet regularly in in her father’s barber shop, often arguing about the best route to take. The women come to visit Momma or meet with their club—the Household of Ruth—to gossip about everything they’ve heard. In the end, the men decide to send a letter to the white council requesting “compensation that all property is worth” (116).

The first family leaves Freedom. The owner of a shoe-repair shop, Mr. Watson, moves with his wife to Nebraska to live with his sister. While the women cry that night at the Household of Ruth gathering, they also confide in each other that their husbands are also considering moving.

One afternoon, Rose Lee helps Susannah do some ironing to help Momma with her work. Aunt Susannah confides that she came for a visit because she broke up with her fiancé. Rose Lee is shocked to learn that it is a white man, and Susannah explains that it is not illegal in Missouri, but that his family would have disowned him for it and taken away his inheritance, so she decided against marrying him at the last minute.