Change

The story is set in the Harlem section of New York City sometime in the mid-1960s (the novel was first published in 1967) which was a time of great change in the United States, and most particularly in the Black community. Nationalist protesters and civil rights activists are on the streets in Alfred’s neighborhood demanding change and preaching new and different ideas, and even Alfred’s conservative Uncle Wilson continually tells him that change is coming for “colored” people, and that he needs to be prepared when it arrives. Alfred’s own life is changing as well as his best friend James pulls further and further away from him, and he finds it increasingly difficult to fit in with Major and the other boys in the neighborhood James has started to hang out with. Alfred is confused by all of the changes going on around...