Chapter 3 Summary

Dr. Crookman discusses matters of his company, called Black-No-More, Incorporated, with Hank Johnson and Chuck Foster. They are waiting on a new electrical apparatus and also need more space than the sanitarium provides. Foster and Dr. Crookman worry about the strong editorials appearing in Southern newspapers that decry their business. In particular, the editorialists are upset because they feel that Dr. Crookman is ruining the purity of the white race, and they call for whites to rise up against this new trend of blacks "getting white" (pp. 32).

Hank Johnson is not worried, though, and thinks back on his own history. He spent two years on a Carolina chain gang, moved to New York, and worked his way up through the Numbers gambling racket. Now, he reflects that he will be one of the most important black men in the world thanks to his...