Summary

First person narrator, Sweetness, does not think it is her fault that her daughter, Lula Ann was born with such dark skin. No more than an hour after her birth, she knew "something was wrong" (1). Lula Ann's skin "was so black," it scared Sweetness (1). Sweetness's skin is much lighter, and so is her husband Louis's. No one in her family is as dark as Lula Ann.

Sweetness's grandmother "passed for white" (1). After marrying a white man she stopped talking to her family. When her family sent letters, Sweetness's grandmother neither opened them nor responded. In that era, this was not unusual. If someone could pass for white, they would. Sweetness has heard that 20% of white people have "Negro blood hiding in their veins (1).

Sweetness's mother, Lula Mae could have passed, but decided not to. She told Sweetness that when she married, there were...