Unnamed Negro Paving Crew
Text:
Character Key:
Display Name:
Unnamed Negro Paving Crew
Sort Name:
Unnamed Negro Paving Crew
Race:
Black
Gender:
Male
Class:
Free Black
Rank:
Minor
Vitality:
Alive
Occupation:
Production
Specific Job:
Street Pavers
First Mentioned:
Biography:
Perhaps as another symptom of the "newness" of the town Horace and Belle move to after her divorce, on his way back from the railroad station he notes that the street is "uptorn . . . in the throes of being paved" (376). The "lines of negroes" doing the work "swing their tools in a languid rhythm," singing "snatches of plaintive minor chanting punctuated by short grunting ejaculations" (376). Since they explicitly work in "lines," this may be a chain gang, and the men may be convict laborers, but that is said explicitly.
Individual or Group:
Group
Character changes class in this text:
digyok:node/character/6574