White Lilacs

“Who was this lady to speak about moving people out of Freedom? Move who? Move where?”

Rose Lee’s confusion during the first Garden Club meeting reflects her immaturity and her young age. As a bildungsroman, the novel will explore her growth and development, as she begins to understand more of the world around her—particularly The Dynamics of Power and Control between the white and Black communities.

“It just happened that Freedom was right in the middle of Dillon, white people on every side of us. But we all got along just fine, long as we colored folks stayed in our part of town except to work. At least that’s what I thought.”

These thoughts from Rose Lee foreshadow the conflict of the novel. Because the novel is written as a flashback years later by Rose Lee, she has hindsight as to the trouble that will be caused between the white community in Dillon and the Black people in Freedom. However, she is honest about her immaturity and lack of understanding at the time of the events.

“I frankly cannot think of a single soul who could have the slightest objection to this plan.”

This quote from Mrs. Bell at the Garden Club meeting is an example of irony that shows her lack of empathy and her racial prejudice. As she suggests moving the Black people off their land, she thinks that not “a single soul” would object—this is ironic because she will be forcibly removing people from their homes. This quote comes just pages after Rose Lee notes that Mrs. Bell is “kind,” reflecting Rose Lee’s immaturity and foreshadowing trouble with the Bell family.

“You knew as soon as you crossed Brown Street that you were in a different place. The three streets […] were not paved (they were muddy now from where the two branches of Hickory Creek crossed over, but later, as the summer wore on, my bare feet would be buried in warm dust). Most all the houses were small and plan, without a lick of paint.”

Brown Street serves as a physical line that separates the white community from the Black community in Freedom. It also serves as a symbolic separation: While their worlds are physically separate, Freedom is also significantly worse in terms of buildings, money, resources, and more. Their people and their town both suffer from racial injustice, as they are kept physically, economically, and socially separated.

“I must have walked up and down that street hundreds of times in my life, maybe thousands, but that day after I hear that talk at Mrs. Bell’s table, I saw it in a way I never did before.”

When Rose Lee returns to Freedom after the first Garden Club meeting, she is already beginning to change as a person. The conversation about Freedom begins to open her eyes to the racial inequality that exists in Dillon. Rose Lee’s coming of age occurs in tandem with the perpetuation and reallocation of racism during this time period.

“Grandmother studied my drawing carefully. ‘God has given you a special gift, Rose Lee. Do good with it.’”

While Grandmother wishes that Rose Lee would stitch like her—a way for Grandmother to record the beauty of Grandfather Jim’s garden and pass it on to her grandchildren—she is awed when she sees Rose Lee’s drawing ability. The idea of doing “good” with her sketchbook introduces the theme of The Importance of Recording History. Rose Lee’s sketchbook will be important to remembering what happened in Freedom, just as Grandmother’s crocheting is her way of preserving history.

“Now for the first time since the Garden Club luncheon I had something to fill my mind besides the future of Freedomtown. But that shows you how little I knew about the people of Dillon, and for that matter, how little Miss Emily Firth knew about them, too.”

Rose Lee’s hindsight again foreshadows the negative events that will occur in the text while also showing Miss Firth’s status as an outsider from the North. Miss Firth wishes to teach Rose Lee art, which gets Rose Lee’s hopes up, but these thoughts foreshadow that art class is not a reality for Rose Lee given the racial prejudice of Freedom.

“Legally a black man can vote just the same as a white man can. Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. But they not going to let us. They going to make sure we don’t by their various and considerable powers of persuasion.”

Henry’s response to learning of the petition to raise money and remove the Black people from Freedom conveys the theme of the dynamics of power and control. He emphasizes the fact that Black people can legally vote according to US law, but the systems that are in place in Dillon are designed to prevent Black people from having an equal say.

“‘All old Booker ever cared about was training Negroes for jobs, to serve Ol’ Massa better,’ Henry would argue. ‘Mr. Garvey knows we got to go for a lot more, that we need to form our own nation.”

Henry’s passionate support of Marcus Garvey is central to the conflict between Henry and the older generation in Freedom: he believes that the teachings of Booker T. Washington are not strong enough, and that direct resistance or leaving the US entirely are the better options. However, this also reflects Henry’s youth, as he fails to grasp the dynamics of power and control, as resistance to the white community’s plan would put all their lives at stake as well as being futile due to the rampant racial injustice. He uses the phrase “Ol’ Massa” ironically, implying that Washington’s beliefs are outdated and would keep the Black community in a state of legalized slavery.

“Of course I knew about the abolitionists. We learned about them in our school, told by Miss Simpson that we had those people to thank for our freedom. Well, if Miss Firth’s people were abolitionists, it meant nothing to me, because it was plain that I was not to be in her art class after all.”

Rose Lee’s reaction to finding out that Catherine Jane is in Miss Firth’s art class—and therefore Rose Lee would not be allowed into it—reflects both her immaturity but also, paradoxically, her understanding of the situation in Freedom. She is uninterested in the work of abolitionists, which shows her lack of understanding of what they do for Black rights; however, she also recognizes that the things happening in the North, where Miss Firth is from, do little to improve her life in Freedom at the present.

“I wanted to throw myself into Aunt Tillie’s thick arms and bury my face in her bosom, but there was no time for that. Dr. Thompson was speaking again. I hunched close by the door and listened.”

At the second meeting that Rose Lee listens in on, she has begun to mature. She recognizes the importance of gathering information for the people of Freedom, and resists the urge to emotionally react to that information, instead pushing aside her anger and sadness to learn more about the society in which she lives.

“I heard [Miss Firth] talking to Mother about you people. She said it was wrong, trying to force the Negroes to move away. Mother tried to be polite, explaining it was for the good of the community, and y’all would be much happier in new homes anyway. Is that true, Rose Lee? That you’d be happier?”

When Catherine Jane pulls Rose Lee aside after the second Garden Club meeting, Catherine Jane’s maturity and her desire to become educated about the situation in Freedom are apparent. Instead of just listening to her mother, she directly asks Rose Lee how it makes her feel. Additionally, these thoughts foreshadow the help that Catherine Jane will give to Rose Lee and Henry.

“Aunt Tillie grumbled that Mrs. Bell always like to give a party the night before she knew the Negroes were going to have a celebration, just out of meanness. […] But I didn’t believe Mrs. Eunice Bell was mean. Just thoughtless.”

Despite Rose Lee’s growth in the novel, she still, at this point, refuses to believe that Mrs. Bell has any ill intent toward the Black community. Regardless of whether Aunt Tillie is correct or not, her thoughts convey the theme of the dynamics of power and control. Mrs. Bell is able to force her Black workers to stay out later and work more the day before Juneteenth, showing her control over them. At the very least, she is spiteful, and, at best, she is “thoughtless,” showing her privilege not to care about her workers, knowing there is nothing they can do.

“‘What do you think would happen,’ Henry demanded, ‘if there were no [Black people] in Dilon? What do you think would happen to the white people if every single one of us—every man, woman, and child—left this place, went away and left it to them? Left it to them to cook their own food, wash their own clothes, tend their own gardens, care for their own children?’”

While Henry makes valid points about the impact that resistance would have on the white community, his overzealousness reflects his immaturity and lack of understanding. He fails to address how the Black community would leave, how they would survive, and what they would do if the white community retaliates with violence.

“We watched [Aunt Susannah] go up to Pastor Mobley and speak to him, but we couldn’t make out what she said. They made quite a sight: him in his white suit, her in her red dress.”

The juxtaposition between Aunt Susannah’s shockingly red clothing and Pastor Mobley’s white suit symbolizes Aunt Susannah’s progressiveness and her status as an outsider. She serves as a representation of what life is like outside of Freedom, while Pastor Mobley’s reserved and traditional clothing represents the people of Freedom—still struggling against the racial injustice that is much less prevalent in St. Louis.

“‘Ye fearful saints fresh courage take, | The clouds ye so much dread | Are big with mercy, and shall break | In blessings on your head.’ From a poem by English poet William Cowper. Thank you.”

This poetry, read by Aunt Susannah at the Juneteenth celebration, is a quote from William Cowper’s poem “Light Shining out of Darkness.” Cowper is an important English poet who wrote poetry against slavery, while also writing several well-known Christian hymns. Aunt Susannah’s quoting of poetry shows her intelligence, while also her understanding of the situation in Freedom. Rather than trying to directly intervene as Henry does, she reminds them that things may be difficult now, but “mercy” and “blessings” await them if they put faith in God and each other.

“That was the first of many talks I was to have with Aunt Susannah, talks I’m sure my momma would not have approved of. I was learning about the world, according to Aunt Susannah.”

Rose Lee’s reflection on her conversations with Aunt Susannah show the importance that Aunt Susannah plays to her character. As Rose Lee begins to understand about the prejudice and injustice in Freedom, she also realizes that there exists a world where this is not the case.

“I had never heard a white person, a white woman, speak out for Negroes like that before. I thought she was very brave. First Henry in church, then Aunt Susannah at the Juneteenth picnic, and now Miss Emily Firth—all speaking out.”

The number of people recognizing the impact of racial injustice—a white woman, a Black woman from St. Louis, and a Black boy—provides what little hope there is in the novel, as for the first time people are not simply accepting prejudice. However, it also shows the dynamics of power and control, as Miss Firth is immediately removed from the stage, fired from her teaching position, and essentially driven out of Dillon.

“Her voice rose with excitement. […] ‘You must work quickly, Rose Lee. On every page, a drawing of a building, and in the corners of the pages the little extra things, like a nice window or a bit of decoration on the porch. And don’t forget the gardens! […] Someday that sketchbook may be all there is to show that Freedomtown ever existed.’”

Miss Firth introduces Rose Lee to the importance of recording history. She recognizes that the white population controls the narrative of history, and no one will care to record what happened to Freedom. However, she is the rare exception to the racial prejudice in Freedom, as she sees the Black community as people who deserve to be remembered.

“Henry didn’t want to [work in the garden]. He carried on about how he wasn’t going to be any white woman’s field [hand], but in the end he agreed. He had to, to bring home some money.”

Henry’s decision to work in the Bells’ garden conveys the impact of racial injustice. To this point, he had refused to be employed by a white family; however, after he is assaulted, he has no choice. This change shows that Henry is realizing just how much control the white community has and how little can be done to separate the Black community from them.

“The ladies went ahead and spread their blankets on the rough pasture stubble, but the flies were so mean no one wanted to uncover their picnic food. Silently we packed up and went home again, too miserable to speak.”

The diction in this passage—the use of the words “rough,” “mean, “silently,” and “miserable”—conveys the impact of racial injustice. The Black community went to The Flats optimistic, excited to bless the new land they were going to live on and to have a plan for where they would go after Freedom. However, the depressing atmosphere and their mood show how much worse their situation will be in The Flats, destroying any hope they had of rebuilding their community.

“I don’t agree with Mr. Washington’s ideas that everything coming to the Negro should be gradual. I propose that we name the school W.E.B Du Bois School.”

Principal Prince’s decision to rename the school after Du Bois shows the impact that the events of the novel have had on the Black community. He has begun to understand the fault in Booker T. Washington’s ideology; however, a few lines later, he declines to name the school after Garvey, showing that he has changed but not fully conformed to Henry’s beliefs. With these lines, Meyer suggests that a balance of the beliefs of several civil rights activists is ideal in ultimately gaining equality—somewhere between Henry’s beliefs and those of the elder generation in Freedom.

“Then I waited, jumpy as a flea, to see what she’d say. If I was lucky, she’d do it. If I wasn’t, she’d run and tell momma and I’d be in the most trouble I’ve been in in my whole life.”

Rose Lee’s thoughts as she asks for Catherine Jane’s help convey her change in the novel. Previously, when asked to refuse to work on the Fourth of July for Henry, her fear got the best of her. Now, however, she overcomes that fear to help Henry. It also shows her maturity in her ability to discern between Henry’s version of action—standing up directly to the white community, getting tarred and feathered, and risking death—and more covert actions.