Take My Hand

“I’ll be honest and tell you there was a time I was uppity. I’m not going to lie about that. My daddy raised me with a certain kind of pride. We lived on Centennial Hill, down the road from Alabama State, and all my life I’d been surrounded by educated people.”

In this quote, Civil is explaining her upbringing and class privilege to Anne and the racist views from which the family shielded itself. The passage also sets up the chasm between Civil’s socioeconomic status and that of the Williams family.

“My daddy had made sure that I was educated not only in my books but also, as he had once described it, in the code that dictated our lives in Alabama. Knowing when to keep your mouth shut. Picking your battles. Letting them think what they wanted because you weren’t going to change their minds about certain things.”

Here, Civil explains to Anne that her education covered not only academics, but also the behavior necessary to avoid racist repercussions. The passage illustrates that affluence and education did not protect Black people in the post-Jim Crow South.

“Fact is, the only time I remember us going out to the country was when we were passing through on the way to someplace else, maybe a church picnic or something like that. We definitely had never been in folks’ houses out there.”

Civil explains how her upbringing isolated her from those who were destitute. Her sheltered upbringing prevented her from meeting people like the Williams family, setting up the shock she feels when she meets them. She has been oblivious to the class differences in the Black population and the level of poverty that surrounded her growing up.