Summary

In Chapter 69, Emma and Sam received a letter from the Department of Buildings that the city was buying their home for $13,000. The city was buying out the homes in the area to tear down in order to build a tenement building. She went to the office of the Department of Buildings to protest and was told that if the city wanted the property they would get it by paying for it now or evicting them later and taking it for nothing. This situation heightened Emma's anger toward white people. It was her belief that white people could do whatever they wanted to blacks and were always trying to take things away from them too.

In Chapter 70 Gwen's sister Irene died of her illness she had been in the hospital for. The family mourned their loss and often ate their meals in silence. On...