Neomi Jean Hattisburg is a young Negro woman who comes of age during the Jim Crow South of the 1930s.
Her father, a railroad porter, and her mother, a domestic worker, instill in Neomi and her brother a strong sense of faith and respect.
Neomi, however, finds herself confused because of her appearance, (she looks White), and the way she is treated by Whites and Negroes as a result.
Prospects for employment for Negroes is limited pretty much to domestic work or the town factory.
It's not.