Ruth M. Wilson
Mrs. Henderson decides to tell her grandchildren how to “travel the safe road” in the south.
Momma intended to teach Bailey and me to use the paths of life that she and her generation and all the Negroes gone before had found to be safe ones. She didn’t cotton to the idea that white folks could be talked to at all without risking one’s life. And certainly they couldn’t be spoken to
insolently
. In fact, even in their absence they could not be spoken of too harshly unless we used the
sobriguet
“They.”
If she had been asked to answer the question of whether she was cowardly or not, she would have said that she was a
realist
. (Caged Bird p. 89)
To the students: You have just read a brief excerpt on survival in the south. The underlined words could be new vocabulary . . . so use your dictionary, if you need help.
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1. What is the main idea of this selection? (It is not given so you will have to use your head for the answer.) _____
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2. In your opinion, what is the topic sentence of this selection? _____
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3. Give a definition for the word “sobriquet?” _____
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4. In your opinion, a realist is _____
Survival
Maggie Comer is explaining Hugh Comer’s and her philosophy on survival and self respect.
“Me and Mr. Comer felt pretty much the same about race—there is good and bad in every group. You don’t dislike the good because of the bad. He used to say, “Don’t take nothing off the white man. And don’t “cut the fool” to get along with them. But don’t go out of your way looking for trouble either. Don’t let him stop you from doing whatever you want to do. Just prepare yourself, your time will come.” (Maggie, p. 79)
