Summary

In Chapter 6, Maxine and her siblings participated in various extracurricular sports over the years. One year, they tried swimming lessons. Another year they joined a dance academy and another year they took gymnastics. They only had to do each program for a semester, but they could not quit early. Maxine quickly grew to dread gymnastics. She was particularly uncomfortable because the instructor constantly criticized her bottom, demanding she tuck it in (58). Maxine told Cleo, but Cleo would not let her drop out. To escape the ridicule, Maxine destroyed her leotard and started wearing baggy clothes to class.

In Chapter 7, Maxine started noticing how Black people were represented “in the old American movies” she watched (64). They were “poor” and “downtrodden” but God “always delivered them” (64). Maxine’s family only went to church on holidays, but Maxine began praying that God would make her white...