Summary

Chapter 1, “Philadelphia and Jubilee, 1925,” opens in Georgia in 1925. Hattie Shepherd and her husband August Shepherd are planning to move north to Philadelphia in order to escape the southern states’ Jim Crow laws. They also want to escape racial oppression. Hattie’s father, the only African-American business owner in the Georgia town, was murdered by white men. Hattie is 17 years old and has given birth to a twin boy and girl; she names them Philadelphia and Jubilee respectively. Hattie, August, and the infant twins arrive in Philadelphia and rent a small apartment in a predominantly African-American neighborhood. The twins begin to have breathing problems, and Hattie realizes that they have pneumonia. She goes to a neighbor’s apartment, and the neighbor helps take care of the infants while another neighbor goes to fetch a doctor. Unfortunately, the infants do not survive.

Chapter 2, “Floyd, 1948,” takes place...