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 narrative traces the lives of three generations of women in the North family who all exemplify resilience and claim an identity for themselves. They find power in creating their own lives while supporting each other. Hazel believed that racism undermined Black womanhood. The word girl “always sent Hazel into a silent rage” (104). Seeing white people calling her mother a girl, Hazel felt that “a grown and determined and brilliant woman, reduced to that colored girl in North Memphis” (104). Hazel always claimed her womanhood. She wanted people to address her as a “woman,” not as “girl.” Hazel was a strong woman who raised her daughters alone. She was pregnant when Myron was murdered. She went straight to work after his death, becoming the “first Black nurse” in the Mount Zion Baptist Hospital (62). Her experience of racism made Hazel determined to fight for equality. During the civil rights movement driven by her will to claim Black power and humanity, Hazel became a grassroots activist, making her house a hub for revolutionaries. Even though she had no other relatives left, she always found familial support in the Black community of the Douglass neighborhood.

When Miriam decides to leave her abusive husband, she and her daughters find shelter by her sister’s side in their family home. August and Miriam create a family anew and find power within their sisterhood. Miriam is still scared when she arrives in Memphis and recalls Jax’s bitter words that she cannot make it alone as a Black woman with two children. August encourages her sister and appeases her fears saying that she would make their mother proud. Miriam defies stereotypes and returns to school as a 40-year-old woman and mother, assuming her youth dream of becoming a nurse. Miriam craves independence, feeling “plain hungry” to make it on her own and “provide for her girls” without Jax’s support (56). August herself has managed to create a life for herself as a single mother. She did not pursue her musical gift and abandoned her college plans for motherhood, she created her own business with determination and perseverance, becoming a successful hairstylist. Despite dealing with her son’s delinquent behavior alone, August enjoys her independence deriving joy from the community of Black women: “August loved it all. The chaos. […] Even the poverty, the uncertainty” (87). Her salon becomes a communal female space for Black women which sustains August: “Laughter that could break glass. Laughter that could uplift a family. A cacophony of Black female joy in a language private to them” (87). The reunion of the North women proves to be empowering while the support of the Black community of the neighborhood remains pivotal and reassuring.

A gifted artist herself, August supports Joan’s choice to develop her artistic ability. When she realizes that Joan “has the gift” she immediately supports her niece while she recalls with some remorse how her path diverged from her singing talent: “Wanting Joan to always cherish her gift made her want to honor her own” (90). August believes in Joan and tries to reassure Miriam who is scared about her daughter’s future and financial safety. While Miriam’s fears make her momentarily doubt Joan’s ability to succeed as a Black woman artist, August reaffirms the resilience of Black women: “You asked that girl once to name you a famous artist who was a woman, who was Black. Joan Della North. That’s who. If she has to be the first, then so be it” (231). Ultimately, Miriam and August reunite and form a family of their own with courage and resilience. Carrying on Hazel’s legacy, a woman who fought for equality and faced life’s struggles with determination, they also pass it on to Joan who embarks on a new journey as a young woman. Her desire to paint the Black women of the Douglass neighborhood and make them her art project indicates that her art is also a means to discover her “self” as a Black woman.