Crow grabs the reader from the beginning and through her writing, Barbara Wright brings us back to life in 1898 through the 12-year-old eyes of Moses Thomas. Moses is the son of a newspaper reporter for the "Wilmington Daily Record, the only Negro daily in the South." As with every great plot, the protagonist experiences situations that change how he sees the world. Moses starts as a naive and hopeful boy, with a father who shelters him the best he knows how from the harshness that exists in Wilmington. By the end of the story, both Moses and his father are faced with a harsh truth that changes life for not only their family, but the entire city.
"I raised you in the belief that what it took to succeed in life was the same thing that it too to be a good man: honesty and hard work, courage and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism. But we're up against something I don't understand and don't know how to adapt to. I've sheltered you from it, and in the process have made you more vulnerable."
"What's that?"
"The intractability of hate," he said. (p. 203)
For Further Research and Reading
The History of the Carolina Twins: "Told in Their Own Peculiar Way" by "One of Them":
- Electronic Edition.Millie-Christine, 1851-1912
- The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow Documentary from PBS: Wilmington Riot of 1898