Summary

South Carolina, Part 3, 107 – 117. Cora (Bessie) is saddened to leave the employ of the Andersons for a new job as a “type,” or a living mannequin in a series of historical displays at the new museum. Narration describes how these displays were intended to introduce the public to parts of the world and styles of life that were new to them: “like a railroad, the museum permitted [people] to see the rest of the country beyond their small experience” (109). The scenes that Cora (and a few others) are employed to participate in evoke three aspects of African life – in Africa, on transport ships, and on the plantation. None of these, Cora soon realizes, are accurate, and as she tries to explain her reactions, the museum’s well-meaning director talks her out of them.

At the same time, a new hospital opens. Cora is surprised to...