Red River

In 1882, nine years after the massacre, Noby is working the fields of his farm while his wife, Emma, gives birth in the house. There have been three bad years in a row for the farm, with two droughts and a flood. Noby is working to take his mind off the screaming of childbirth. Thinking of his first child being born, Noby remembers his father, Israel, in the years after he was maimed in the Colfax Massacre. Lucy cared for her husband and became the breadwinner, never complaining. Noby and David worked the farm, and in the evenings, Noby would read to his father. These were the only times “Israel seemed calm and not quite so distant, his mind willing to take a stake in the current world, as if he had stumbled onto a pathway back to the flow of life” (223).

Only once did Israel speak of the massacre, saying, “[T]hat day was rigged […] I was wrong, son. Don’t never let them put their hands on you” (224). None of the other survivors speak much of the events of that day, even after nine years. Israel lived long enough “to see the end of Reconstruction in Grant Parish, the definitive clanging shut like a heavy iron door, locking out the dreams of the colored courthouse men” (224). The white communities returned to normal. Nevertheless, Noby still has nightmares about hiding in the woods and the days after the massacre.

He hopes for a boy, although he cannot name the child Israel for his father as planned; David had named his first son Israel three years previously. Instead Noby plans to name his son for Hansom Brisco, who saved Noby’s life and “owns more land in The Bottom than Sam and Green Tademy combined” (225). Lucy comes to tell Noby that the baby is born, and it is a boy. Noby asks after his wife, Emma, whose father was the only Asian man who has ever been in the area.

Hansom Brisco comes to visit to see his namesake. Noby dubs them “Big Hansom” and “Lil Hansom.” As he leaves, Hansom tells Noby that David had come “asking terms on a piece of my land. Say the two of you considering going in together” (227). Although Noby is surprised to hear this, he acknowledges that there is “nothing more important for a colored man than land” (227). He promises to repay Hansom first, as Hansom has already lent Noby and Emma money.

A few weeks after the birth, Noby and Emma attend the wedding of Jackson Tademy to Amy McCullen. He teases his friend Jackson about waiting so long to marry Amy, who was living with the Tademys for the past eight years anyway. Jackson plans to live with his new wife at his father’s house until he’s ready to buy his own land. Noby tells Jackson about Hansom Brisco offering to let him and David buy some land. Jackson encourages Noby to take the opportunity. Jackson says that he does not share the big dreams of starting a school with his brother, Green, and father, Sam, but only wants to farm.

The wedding is short, and the house is hot, but the ceremony is happy. Leaving, “Noby is pleased that his friend found his way” to marriage at last (231).  

Four years later, in 1886, Green wakes Jackson and Amy in the middle of the night. He has come with Noby to get Jackson and go hunting for possums. Jackson protests, but Amy encourages him to go. They have fun as if they are boys again and cat h two possums. Then, they sit and cook one of the possums, recalling that they all first hunted together with Sam on the night of the Colfax massacre.

They start back toward home, although Green tries to get Noby to agree to bag one more possum. On the way back, they run across a skunk. Jackson is carrying the gun, and Green shouts at him to shoot the skunk. Jackson, who hates guns, doesn’t move, so Green inches forward and grabs the gun. The skunk sprays them, and Green drops the gun, and as Jackson recoils from the smell, “the gun goes off close to his ear, and suddenly, Green is on the ground at his feet” (240).

When Noby and Jackson roll Green over, they do not see a wound, but “he is unconscious, bleeding from his ear and nose” (241). They carry Green to Sam’s house, where Jackson lays Green on the couch and says that it was an accident. Green is dead. Jackson sees Sam close Green’s eyes, and though he says nothing, “Jackson feels the chill wind of accusation” (242).

The next morning, Jackson goes back to see his father, and neither speak of the death. Polly hugs Jackson and says Green is “back with his Maker” (243). His wife has already come to take the body and prepare it for a funeral. Polly tells the men to talk. However, when Jackson tries to speak of Green, Sam says that “time running out for me and the school” (244). Jackson protests that the school was the dream of Sam and Green. Sam says, “Tademy men does three things. We farm, we preach, and we teach. Nothing help the colored man so much as education” (244). Despite the work of his farm, Jackson does feel “there is something different, more satisfying, he could do given the chance” (244). Still, he is working toward his dream of owning his own land and is adamant that Amy should never have to work. Sam is stubborn and holds that “Colfax need a colored school […] Those that can, do. Time to step up, son” (245). Jackson cannot refuse, though “he feels he is being pressed into something when all he want is to take care of his own” (245).

Without his brother, Jackson feels lost. A large crowd shows up to Green’s funeral. Jackson struggles to look at his father, “as if Sam knows that Jackson’s refusal to fire a gun at a startled skunk led to this” (246).

The day before Christmas, Jackson teaches his son, Nathan-Green, about the importance of respecting books. He then gets both of his boys to shout their names before sitting with them to read. Later, Jackson digs up 273 dollars he buried in the yad and goes to see the Widow Cruikshank, who owns a significant amount of land in The Bottom. He negotiates with her to buy 100 acres of land along Walden Bayou. She asks for 500 dollars, accepting 300 from him by the end of the year and allowing him to work off the rest. Jackson agrees, although he is already overworked, and strikes the deal.

In 1891, five years after Green’s death, Jackson takes his family to church, where his youngest brother is a deacon. In the past five years, he has increased his land to 142 acres. He works hard on his farm and still contributes time and effort to “the omnipresent parade of communal Tademy projects” (252). He has three boys and another child on the way.

On Sundays, he attends mass with all of the Tademys at the church that he helped build, Mount Pilgrim’s Rest. Sam is always first to arrive, but that morning, Sam arrived late; he is “grayish and drained of color, and he sweats profusely even though the day hasn’t yet heated to its full potential” (254). He is also bruised, and his skin has red spots. Although Jackson and his siblings worry, “no one can convince Sam to stay in bed” (254).

After church, Sam asks Jackson to come over and help him fix the gristmill soon, although not that day, since Sam is too tired. He tells Jackson: “you and me got serious talking to do” (255). Later, while Jackson is plowing, Noby visits with his wife and five children. Jackson hasn’t seen his friend in more than two months and has missed him. They have “drifted apart unwillingly, two men with good intentions staggering under the weight of making a respectable life” (256). Noby invites Jackson to join the black men of The Bottom in organizing their own chapter of the Freemasons. Jackson refuses as he has done in the past.

Although disappointed, Noby asks after Sam and Lucy and tells Jackson that he and David are doing alright, even though David is “already pushing Hansom Brisco to sell us more land, dragging me in because I’m the one got a little cash” (259). They discuss the importance of land and the fact that Jackson helped each of his brothers acquire property. Amy rings the dinner bell, and all of the children come running from the bayou. Watching their children, Noby says, “[W]ho we leave behind that matter […] and don’t think I gonna let the Freemason idea alone just ’cause you don’t understand how important it is yet” (260).

On Tuesday, Jackson helps Sam with the gristmill, fixing it while Sam uncharacteristically stays out of it. Sam begins speaking of the need for a school. Jackson is skeptical, saying “take more than yearning to start a school” (263). He points out the need for a plan, money, teachers, supplies, and parents willing to send their children.

Sam is upset and asks Jackson to “stop fighting, and we make this school happen. You too young to understand what last and what can’t. Green understood” (263). This angers Jackson, who snaps that he is not his brother and accuses Sam of blaming him for Green’s death. Sam protests “The Lord give you a gift, and you responsible to use it” (263). Sam explains that Jackson’s gift is drive and planning, while Green’s was only dreaming. Jackson is shocked but happy that Sam calls him “the stronger one. You a man won’t stop until you arrive at a purpose” (264). Sam then promises to pass on his funeral hat to Jackson in the hopes that “some day it be a voting hat again” (264).

That Thursday, Jackson’s brother comes with news that Sam collapsed trying to fix the gristmill, as Jackson had been unable to finish the job. Sam has died by the time he arrives. The next Sunday, before the funeral, Polly gives Jackson the promised funeral hat. Polly explains: “this hat belong to men could stand up to anything life throw at them” (266). The entire town comes to Sam’s funeral, and Jackson tries to accept his position as the elder Tademy.

Later that night, Jackson cannot sleep and goes to plow the fields in the dark, feeling lost without “the enormous pull of Green and Sam” (267). He remembers how his father talked of building a “commissary for The Bottom” and thinks that it could also be used as “a colored school, the same way Sam brought the church and the gristmill” (268). He plows until he is exhausted and only then returns inside.

Five more years later, in 1896, the “commissary-smokehouse-school” has been built and also serves as a meeting place for the Freemasons (269). Noby tries again to convince Jackson to join the Masons, but he refuses again. Noby explains that he and David are not doing well, due to a drought that hurt their farms, and “Hansom Brisco can’t wait much more for some kind of settlement” (270).

After the Freemason meeting that night, Noby drives his brother David back toward their homes. David is insulted that Jackson refuses to join, but Noby defends his friend. He then confronts David about their land, since they owe “almost three hundred acres’ worth of debt now” (272). David is dismissive, saying that he has never signed any of the loans, so his “part don’t got no debt on it” (272). Noby is shocked, saying that he signed thinking they were in it together. He asks if David would watch him sell off their father’s house, cheating his own brother. David is dismissive, saying that Israel was Noby’s father, because he “pick you over me every time, every year of your life, always climbing his way over me to get to you” (272). However, he offers to take care of their mother, Lucy.

At last, “Noby had realized the depth of his brother’s contempt, the lingering ulceration of his resentment” (273). Furious, Noby attacks David, and the brothers fight. David succeeds in winding Noby and then takes the wagon and leaves his brother by the side of the road. Alone, Noby realizes “what David said is true. On paper, all of the debts belong to Noby, are owned by him alone. Without David’s cooperation, he will lose his land, his home and his livelihood” (273).

In 1907, 11 years later, the smell of smokes wakes Jackson in the middle of the night. He realizes the fire is outside, not inside. His sons, aged 16 to 24, wake up too, but they “recognize the layered dangers of the situation. There are white men involved” (276). The white men have set the commissary ablaze. There appear to be four of them, and one calls out to Jackson to come out and save his store. For a moment, Jackson almost does go out with his sons to fight them. However, he quickly remembers that “any white man, for that matter—can intrude in his world at any time and burn down what has taken him a lifetime to accumulate” with no repercussions (277).

As the fire builds, Jackson recognizes one of the white men as a Hadnot. When he does not come out, they taunt him again, saying, “[S]ome coloreds so uppity they need bringing down a peg” (277). The white men taunt him again, this time about the school, revealing the true reason for their attack. Angry, he determines not to risk his life unless they try to attack the house. When the white men are sure the commissary cannot be saved, they steal the last of the supplies and leave. Jackson tells his son never to fight because “only a fool don’t have sense enough to stay away from a fight can’t be won” (279). He then takes his sons outside to start cleaning up.

Jackson and his sons work to put out the last of the fire while he “tries to shake the disquieting feeling that he has been here before, standing in the wake of destruction, toothless in the face of untouchable enemies, surrounded by his sons” (281). He tells his sons to shout out their names, which they do after a moment of confusion. He reminds them that their family came to America voluntarily, as free men. He then draws a map of the Nile Delta for them in the mud and tells them that, although they are learning harsh truths about being black men in Louisiana, “can’t nobody take away the Tademy name” (283).

Noby arrives after dawn and helps Jackson in searching the rubble of the commissary. In the back, they find a blackboard from the school. Noby says that they can rebuild the commissary and the school, but Jackson is less sure, saying that the white men will only come back and may hurt his family next time. Noby insists that Jackson was meant to run the first black school. Changing the subject, Jackson asks about Noby, who tells him about David’s betrayal and the fact that he needs to sell much of his land to pay back Hansom Brisco. Noby plans to go into town and see if there is work at the icehouse. Jackson wishes him luck.

Later, at dinner with his family, Jackson expresses his intention to buy a set of encyclopedias from the Widow Cruikshank. Although he still insists on shutting down the school, he will have a library. Amy offers to take work from the widow to pay for the books, but Jackson is still insistent that “no woman of mine gonna work in the field or clean up behind white, no matter what” (289).

Four years later, in 1911, Nathan-Green Tademy has married Lenora Smith, and they live with Jackson and Amy in their large house. Lenora is pregnant and is happy with her life with the Tademys. Of all the places on the property, she “likes the tranquil corner of the front room with the bookshelves best, almost as comforting as church” (293).

Amy startles Lenora looking at the books and says that “what’s in those books set our minds free” (293). As they clean fish for dinner, Amy tells Lenora that Polly, Jackson’s mother, will be moving in with them. Lenora accepts this and asks whether Jackson will ever reopen the school. Amy responds, “[I]f I got anything at all to do with it, the answer be yes. But truth told, only so much a wife able to carry out with a Tademy man” (295).

Lenora and Nathan-Green married later than their siblings, at 21 and 28, respectively, coming “together more as a result of proximity and the closeness of two families than any overwhelming pull toward each other, although they were connected by certain similarities of personality” (295). They began courting slowly, but only Lenora’s unexpected pregnancy finally forced them to marry. Lenora is content with Nathan-Green’s lack of interest in marriage, as “her expectations are low in terms of her own happiness” (297). Still, she is envious of Amy’s relationship with Jackson, which is clearly loving.

Jackson talks of getting Nathan-Green set with his own land, now that he is married, but Lenora secretly “wishes she could go on living with Jackson and Amy forever” (298).

In 1915, four years later, Noby makes his rounds as the iceman in Colfax. Noby is in a bad mood because he is planning to confront his brother later that day. He enjoys his job as the iceman but worries about white people accusing him of stealing or lying to get their ice for free, since in some cases it would only be his word against theirs. Still, he knows how much ice each customer will need, though “it has taken years of proving himself, and harassment from others around Colfax who wanted work as steady as ice delivery” (301). Since he is in Colfax most days, he also hears about other odd jobs before most of the other black men.

At the end of his deliveries, Noby drives to David’s farm in The Bottom. Lucy is staying with David and his wife, Susanna, who tells Noby that David is in the pecan grove. He goes to find his brother. Noby asks David for help paying down their debt, but David still denies any liability for the debt. Noby leaves, telling his brother: “you dead to me” (305).