Memphis

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the source text’s treatment of domestic abuse, racism, racist violence, and child sexual abuse. The study guide quotes and obscures the author’s use of the n-word.

Two years have passed since Joan, Mya, and Miriam moved to Memphis. Miriam studies at the Rhodes College nursing program as her mother Hazel did and works part-time jobs to make ends meet. Miriam is “busy” and “content” (91). Joan admires the beauty of her new home and enjoys the Douglass neighborhood. Even if she hates Derek, she loves Memphis and finds “refuge” in drawing. She avoids Derek and often eats alone on the front porch. She shows her hate and rage, but drawing makes her memories fade. Even though Mya does not know what happened, she always supports Joan and dislikes Derek.

Every morning, boys with pistols come to their house to accompany Joan, Mya, and Derek to school. The block where the schools are located is one of the most dangerous places in Memphis. The neighborhood is controlled by gangs. Derek is associated with the Douglass Park 92 Bishops gang, which controls Douglass. Joan thinks that the gangs “[m]ade Memphis Black” as white people left for the countryside (94).