Emma must walk a fine line as a mother-substitute, guiding Glory while not being free to say how she really feels about recent incidents. The two sisters bicker, yet they are loyal during a crisis. References to Elvis and the Beatles, cats-eye glasses, and ducktail haircuts give period flavor. Scattergood was raised in Mississippi, so she is able to portray authentic local color through speech patterns and customs. Can an almost-twelve-year-old find ways to resist prejudice in her community? They and other townspeople resent the outsiders’ interference in what they consider local matters. The turmoil makes Glory afraid she’s losing her best friend Frankie, who’s starting to parrot his racist father and older brother. Glory is upset that she can’t have her usual Fourth of July birthday party at the swimming pool because the town fathers have closed it “for repairs.” She learns that the real reason is to keep nonwhites from using it. It’s the Freedom Summer of 1964, when Yankees have come to town to provide medical care and voter registration aid to Blacks. Gloriana Hemphill lives in the Mississippi Delta with her preacher father and teenage sister Jesslyn, supervised by their African-American maid Emma.
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