I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Chapter 19

People pack themselves into the Store to listen to the boxing match between Joe Louis, a black man, and Carnera, a white man. Everyone in the Store needs Louis to win, to prove that black people can be victorious. If Louis loses, it will be "One more woman ambushed and raped. A Black boy whipped and maimed...a white woman slapping her maid for being forgetful." Chapter 19, pg. 131 Louis triumphs, and there is celebration and candy. But some people are afraid to go home, because they know white people will be angry that a white man lost the fight.