Chapter 13

Summary

• The chapter is set in Washington, D.C. in the year 1930, with the protagonist known as Mary in the Whitelaw Hotel.
• A hotel staff member, Shirley, provides Mary exceptional care and brings the Pittsburgh Courier newspaper to her, mentioning an article about Mary's visit to the White House with President Hoover.
• Shirley reveals her mother admires Mary for her accomplishments as a colored woman who wasn’t a maid or cook at the White House. She requests Mary to autograph a newspaper for her mother, which Mary agrees to do.
• Mary reflects on her first visit to D.C. when she wasn’t allowed to stay in hotels due to her skin color, in contrast to now, staying at the Whitelaw Hotel -- funded and built by Negroes.
• Although her meeting with President Hoover could have given her the opportunity to voice out the needs of Negro children, Mary felt her words fell on deaf ears as those present at the meeting did not understand her call to strengthen African American communities to strengthen America.
• Mary reads the Washington Post which highlights bleak unemployment rates, bankrupt banks, and the struggle of Americans.
• Mary finds a small article about a group of Southern women convening to stop lynching which surprises her. This almost never happens, especially since white women are taking a stand.
• A flashback from Mary’s seventh birthday when her friend’s father, Mr. Lewis, was lynched after getting in a fight with a white man at a mule auction is described. Her fear and understanding of what it means to be black in a white-dominated society is brought to light.
• The chapter ends with Mary’s hope that the influence of white women, especially someone of position like Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, could be harnessed towards the lynching atrocities and racial equity.