Sycamore Row

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes depictions of racism.

Grisham’s fictional setting of Ford County, Mississippi positions Sycamore Row’s story within a microcosm of Southern culture. The issue of racial inequality, both historically and in the novel’s dramatic present, is portrayed as a product of distinct influences, all of which are tied to place and time and inevitably linked to the past. The narrative suggests that Southern attitudes about race change at a different pace than in other parts of the country, and those deep roots of racial prejudice influence every scene in the novel. As Lucien puts it: “Everything is about race in Mississippi, Jake, don’t ever forget that” (91). Though Lucien’s comment highlights the inextricability of racism from life in the American South, Sycamore Row’s narrative develops four narrower conclusions about race relations in the Deep South, which culminate in a message of caution against complacency.

Sycamore Row’s first conclusion about the American South in the late 1980s is that segregation hasn’t gone away with desegregation laws; it has only become informal. Black and white residents of Ford County still live in separate parts of town. They still often earn different wages for the same work—as evidenced by Seth’s office manager claiming Seth isn’t a bigot like most people because he pays his Black and white employees the same wage. Seth anticipates that without his specific instructions in his will, Black people won’t be admitted to his funeral. Even Jake and Carla realize they’ve never invited a Black person over for dinner, despite having no objection to the idea. The arguments given by some of the narrative’s peripheral characters for the continued practice of de facto—or informal—segregation attempt to disguise their racism as pragmatism. Regarding Lettie’s family renting a house in the “white” part of town (157), a realtor at the Tea Shoppe says, “If we get these folks moving into the wrong areas, then property values will go down all over town. It could be bad for all of us” (158). His use of economic strategy to conceal his racist motivation demonstrates the rationalization of informal segregation by white residents of Ford County. It also demonstrates how self-interest can prevent community integration when people believe it will harm them individually, financially or otherwise.

Second, the novel concludes that centuries of oppression have created generational trauma for Black Americans, perpetuated in the South by entrenched racism and structural inequality. Portia echoes Lettie’s cynicism when she says, “With all this money being thrown around, well, we just sort of naturally expect to get the short end” (179), reflecting the generational trauma experienced by Black Americans living with informal segregation and economic disadvantage perpetuated by both interpersonal and systemic racism in the American South. Lucien refers to what he believes to be an additional manifestation of generational trauma—internalized racism—in his description of potential problems with Black jurors: “A lot of [B]lacks will be jealous of Lettie Lang because now she’s one of them, but if she gets the money she’ll be the richest person in Ford County. […] She’ll be uppity and rich and she’ll look down on everybody, especially her people” (102-03). His comments reflect a white, male perspective on a complicated and counterintuitive aspect of racism and racial inequality. For Lucien, the concept of generational trauma helps make sense of the disconcerting reality of internalized racism, also known as appropriated racial oppression.

Grisham crafts several scenes in Sycamore Row that demonstrate its third conclusion about race: Prejudice is reinforced by stereotypes—stereotypes that Grisham presents as ranging from pernicious to merely an acceptance of conventional wisdom. When Clanton locals wonder how Lettie can afford to rent the larger house she moved into, one answers, “Come on, Howard. They get checks. They know how to play the system. Food stamps, Aid to Dependent Children, welfare, housing, unemployment—they make more sitting on their asses than most folks do working forty hours” (159). The novel engages with this racist stereotype of Black Americans, reflecting an attempt by Clanton’s white residents to justify racist views about work ethic and moral character with observations of economic achievement—a perspective that blatantly disregards the relationship between systemic racism and poverty in the United States, and upholds a conservative political ideology that characterizes the utilization of government assistance as a moral failing. In another example, Jake describes Lettie to Carla, saying, “I got the impression she’s a fairly typical [B]lack woman for these parts, with a houseful of kids, a part-time husband, a minimum-wage job, a hard life” (64). Jake’s characterization happens to be true of Lettie (as constructed by Grisham) and acknowledges Clanton’s reality without blaming Black residents for their circumstances. However, his generalized perspective also diminishes Lettie, highlighting her lack of agency and interiority in the novel.

Grisham ends the novel with a final conclusion that, in fact, not everything in Mississippi is about race, encouraging a more nuanced perspective on the attitudes—specifically of white residents—in the American South. On several occasions in the story, Grisham represents the prevalence and influence of racism as overestimated. He refutes Sistrunk’s claim that white people hated Lettie long before he came to town through Sheriff Ozzie: “That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve been elected twice by the white folks in this county. Most of them are good people. They’ll give Lettie a fair shake, or at least they would have until you showed up” (190). Portia echoes Sheriff Ozzie’s message to Jake and Harry Rex, saying, “I don’t understand you guys. Why is it always black versus white? I looked at those people, those faces, and I didn’t see a bunch of hard-core racists who’ll burn the will and give everything to the other side. I saw some reasonable people out there” (346). Grisham includes these perspectives to suggest a more nuanced view of human nature—one not solely delineated along racial lines. He also suggests that those who actually experience racial discrimination—in this case, Clanton’s Black citizens who are themselves characters created by Grisham—are best positioned to understand and assess its impact.

Though this nuanced perspective creates a tone of optimism as Grisham’s novel comes to a close, the book’s previous conclusions about racial inequality in the American South urge caution in estimating progress. The persistence of de facto segregation, generational trauma, and racialized violence in Ford County signal there’s still a great deal of work to be done to overcome inequality and entrenched racism in the South.