A dominant theme in Flying Home and Other Stories is racial prejudice and its effects. Regardless of their economic status, the adult characters are always aware of the separation between black and white Americans, and the case of the so-called "Scottsboro boys" becomes a backdrop for the action in several stories.

For example, the unnamed narrators of "Hymie's Bull" and "I Did Not Learn Their Names" point out that even the boxcars become segregated once the train crosses the Mason-Dixon line, and everywhere the railroad detectives punish black hobos more severely than white, regardless of who actually causes trouble. In Northern cities like Chicago, the racial tension is only slightly less overt: The narrator in "A Hard Time Keeping Up" knows that he and his friend must make their way to the "Negro section" of town as quickly as possible, and the hungry "King of the...