Summary

Chapter 9. It is now essential that Richard find work and earn money. He takes a number of jobs, none of which work out. First he gets a job as a porter in a clothing store that sells cheap clothing to blacks. The white owners treat their black customers with contempt. Richard is particularly disturbed when the owners brutally beat a black woman for not paying her bill. That same day after making deliveries for the store, he is mistreated by a car full of white men when he forgets to address them as “sir.” It is increasingly difficult for Richard to hide his feelings at the store, and he is quickly fired.

His next job is at an optical shop whose owner is a Yankee from Illinois. Mr. Crane wants to help Richard learn a trade, and instructs the two white workers to introduce him...