The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

“In Georgia the preacher had called the North a New Jerusalem.”

Before the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Jim Crow laws in southern states permitted whites to freely persecute and oppress blacks. Because of this unjust system, as well as the growing need for factory workers in the industrializing North, many African Americans left the South to seek better lives in the North. This faith in the North as “a New Jerusalem,” or a land of promise, informs Hattie’s high expectations for her life in Philadelphia. When her hopes are dashed, the disappointment demoralizes and chastens her.

“Hattie looked more closely at the crowd on the sidewalk. The Negroes did not step into the gutters to let the whites pass and they did not stare doggedly at their own feet.”

Hattie does not know what to expect before she arrives in Philadelphia. When she emerges from the train station, she is stunned to see black people walking on the streets with as much dignity as white people. The sight convinces her that, in Philadelphia, she is free to realize all of her hopes and dreams. While this proves false, Hattie will always consider the North a more hospitable place than the South.

“Seven Days they get to be heathens out in the open.”

Layfette explains to Floyd that the “hoodoo” celebration occurring in the town’s streets is the annual Seven Days festival. During the rest of the year, the townsfolk conform to social expectations, but for Seven Days, they joyously flout taboos. Ironically, these are the same people who condemn Lafayette for his nonconforming sexuality.