Illustration, Cotton Fields, and Howard: A Response to Clear as Black and White

Some of us can infer early on that the neighbors of Eighth Street are black from the illustration on the cover page and the numerous references to Howard University. The figure on the cover, presumably Sharon, has full lips and a bell-shaped nose which indicate African heritage. However, the image is not a photograph but an illustration which allows the artist a lot of creative license. The moment in Bad Neighbors when Sharon describes her new feminine appeal is when some readers glean the predominant race on Eighth Street:

"And Sharon, coming rather late to this awareness of her womanhood, had begun to take             some delight in seeing boys wither as they stood close enough to her to smell the mystery that had nothing to do with perfume and look into the twinkling brown eyes she had inherited from a grandmother who had seen only the morning, afternoon, and evening of a cotton field" (Jones 73, Column 3).

So to answer your first question Alexis: After this sentence I knew that the neighbors were black.

But to answer your second question takes a longer answer. I highlighted this sentence and tried to understand why the author decided to veil the race of the neighbors on Eighth Street in this manner. I was unsure of the race of these neighbors until I read the words cotton fields. I wondered why Jones did not make it obvious that the characters where black to his readers who do not associate cotton fields with slavery. It comes down to race and class. I believe that the race of the neighbors on Eighth Street is far less important than their social class. The race of the neighbors on Eighth could have been easily been substituted but I believe that the story would have remained the same. The overall impact of the story would have been the same.

Why do you think Jones did not hit us over the heads with the race of the neighbors on Eighth? Why does Jones focus on social class more than race in his story?