Racial Division

A key theme throughout this book is the division and conflict between the black and white races throughout the South and particularly in Durham. The author realizes that this racial divide still exists in the United States and he leads the reader into a deeper understanding of the roots of the conflict. While the author doesn’t go into the history of slavery and the slave/master relationship, he does show that the white elite had a strong interest in keeping the black and white masses from forming a political alliance after the Civil War. The promotion of racism proved to be a winning strategy towards this effort of separation. Davidson, with this story, answers the challenge of starting to address this centuries’ old issue that goes to the heart and soul of the United States of America.

The author chooses two extreme characters from...