-
Period: to
Reconstruction to The Civil Rights Movement
-
Congress passes the 13th amendment (ending slavery); Miss Jane leaves the plantation
!3th Amendment Miss Jane proclaims,"It might 'a' been July, I'm not too sure, but it was July or August." She doesn't give an exact date for when she left the plantation with a group of other former slaves, but the United States congress passed the 13th amendment, which officially ended slavery, on January 31 1865 and was officialy ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. -
Massacre
KKKAs she was travelling north with a group of former slaves, a pack of patrollers and troops from the Secesh army attacked and killed several of the travellers. Among the victims was the mother of a young boy, Ned. Miss Jane and Ned managed to hide from the attackers, and Miss jane eventually ended up taking Ned in as her own. As she said, "Them (the patrollers) and the soldiers from the Secesh Army was the ones who made up the Ku Klux Klan later on." -
Miss Jane moves to a new plantation
After Miss Jane leaves the scene of the massacre, her and Ned are led to a plantation where sharecroppers can stay and make money for working, run by a man named Mr. Bone. The workers were payed very little, as is shown when Bone tells Miss Jane,"All right, I'll give you a try...but you still spare and I won't pay you more than six a month." The conditions on these plantations were not much better than those during slavery, and the pay was very low. This is how many blacks lived after slavery. -
Ned leaves home
After joining a committee dedicated to investigating the treatment of former slaves, Ned is forced to leave the south because a group of men on horses (probably the KKK, as Miss Jane says, "All had on their sheets," referring to the sheets that KKK members must wear during their racist campaigns) comes to her cabin and searches for Ned, probably with intentions to kill him. When the KKK can't find him, they leave, and Miss Jane tells Ned that he cannot stay. Eventually, Ned leaves for Kansas. -
Joe Pittman dies
"They said Joe had cornered and roped the stallion, but with no saddle to tie the rope on, the stallion had jecked him off his horse and had dragged him through the swamps. When they found him he was tangled in the rope, already dead." This event is very significant because it marks one of the many deaths/tragedies that occurs throughout the book, and because Joe was very close to Miss Jane. -
Ned comes home with his family
"That war ended in 1898. He came here that next summer. And a year later, almost to the day, Albert Cluveau shot him down." Ned's arrival at Jane's house is an important event because, obviously, if he hadn't come home he probably wouldn't have been killed by Albert Cluveau, and Miss Jane wouldn't have had to suffer through another tragedy (only to add to the several that she had already suffered through). -
Ned is killed
"Cluveau shot him (Ned) in the leg-the white people had told him Cluveau to make Ned crawl before killing him. When cluveau shot him, he fell to one knee, then got back up. Cluveau shot again. This time he tored off half his chest." Among all of the deaths in this novel, Ned's is one of the most symbolic and important, because of the blood that remains for years after Ned is shot, and because of Albert Cluveau's death caused by the revenge of the 'Chariot of Hell' after the murder. -
Albert Cluveau dies
Right before the "high water of 'twelve," Albert Cluveau was at the point of death, sitting on his deathbed screaming in agony. These events are foreshadowed in Miss Jane's words, "Mr. Albert Cluveau, when the Chariot of Hell come rattling for you, the people will hear you screaming all over this parish." In my opinion, the Chariot of Hell symbolizes all of the guilt that has built up throughout Cluveau's life and his many planned-out murders. -
Miss Jane moves to Samson
After Ned dies, Jane moves to a housing development/plantation owned by the Samsons. She begins cooking for the Samson family and gets payed to do so. When a new teacher moves onto the plantation, on of the Samsons (Tee Bob) falls in love with her, but he is told that he cannot be with her because she is part black. Because he cannot be with her, he kills himself , but one man remarks, "We all killed him. We tried to make him follow rules our people gave us a long time ago." (racial segregation) -
Miss Jane finds Religion
To many African Americans, Religion was very important leading up to and during the Civil Rights Movement. Many blacks who were part o fchurches claimed to have "found religion" meaning that they talked to god or had a godly experience. Miss Jane describes her experience as, "...The Savior was there. He smiled down at me and raised the load off my shoulder. I wanted to bow to His feet, but He told me rise I had been born again." Religion gave many blacks hope and inspiration during rough times. -
Jimmy "the One" dies
In Miss Jane's words, "People always looking for someone to come lead them."..."They have always done it, and the Lord has always obliged in some way or another." After a baby, Jimmy, is born at Samson, many people ask if he is "the One" (a great leader to guide them through the Civil Rights Movement). Once he is grown up, he does begin to push for Civil Rights. At one of his displays of civil disobedience, he is shot,and the news comes back to the blacks living at Samson. -
Miss Jane leads a group of blacks to a Civil Rights Protest
Civil Rights protestsAfter Jimmy's death, Miss Jane is inspired to get out and push for what Jimmy died pushing for-Civil Rights. Even though she is over 100 years old and struggles to just sit up, let alone lead an act of Civil disobedience, she believes that, "Just a little piece of him is dead. The rest of him is waiting in Bayonne (where the protest is taking place). And I will go with Alex." -
Mario's speech
Mariojfklsjfdlsjfldsajlfdsalkfdjslajfkldsajldfksaj Mario tells Nick to control himself.
