Chapter 1: The Flats Summary and Analysis

The Flats is the poorest section of Jackson Harbor. (The reader should bear in mind that the names of the actual locations were changed.) It lies along a railroad line connecting the South with Chicago and was one of many black communities to spring up after the great migration north when many of the southern plantations began to close down. The living conditions in the Flats are abysmal. Black families generally only earn about $4000 a year (figure from the late 1960s and early 1970s) and this is often split among ten or more people. To put the number into its proper context, economists have estimated that an average sized family of three or four needs about $8000 to survive. Accordingly, blacks in the Flats often live in houses in desperate need of repair and are sometimes displaced when...