And the fellow taking it up, saying, You in good hands, daddy, Miss Mary always helping somebody and you need some help 'cause here you black as me and white as a sheet, as the ofays would say—watch these steps.

 

I had lost my sense of direction. I spent my time, when not looking for work, in my room, where I read countless books from the library.

“But you were indignant. And sometimes the difference between individual and organized indignation is the difference between criminal and political action,” he said.