Chapters 7 and 8, Sam, Brothers and Sisters Summary and Analysis

Ruth remembers the Ku Klux Klan riding into town and their black customers slipping into their houses. Ruth's father keeps a loaded, polished gun behind the counter of his store, sure that the black folks are always trying to steal from him. He charges them a hundred percent markup on his goods but at the same time he is afraid they're stealing from him.

In the 1930s people get sick and die. Black people come into their store with infections or illnesses to buy BC Powder. It costs 25 cents and comes in blue-and-white packets. The black people in Suffolk live in shacks with no running water, no foundations, or bathrooms. They don't yet have paved roads or electricity.

Ruth's brother Sam works like a man when he is a boy. He...