They are in the south and a group of white men are sitting on a porch of a hardware store. News has just come to them that all blacks in the American South have joined together to emigrate to Mars. They have built their own rocket from money they have saved overtime working for whites. Mr. Teece is mad, Belter ( slave/ indentured servant) owes him 50 dollars. He tell him he can not leave until he has his money. A crowd pays the debt for Belter.

His wife is upset that her maid, Lucinda, is leaving for Mars. Teece’s employee Silly, rides up to leave, but Teece tries to make him stay because of his work contract. The other men force Teece to let him go. Teece remember that all his nights of lynching will not occur any more so he loses it and grabs his rifle and goes in a car to chase them down going to the rocket. All the African Americans leave their belongings on the sides of the roads and Mr. Teece wrecks trying to run over the piles.

“Did you notice? Right up to the very last, by God, he said ‘Mister’!” –Samuel Teece This illustrates the discrimination/ inequality “What you gonna do up there?” –Teece “Starting new.” – Belter/Silly This shows that he is getting away from the inequality to go to a place where everyone is equal.

“I can’t figure out why they left now. With things looking up. I mean everyday they got more rights.” – Teece This shows that he does not understand or care that it’s not about getting their own rights. They want to be treated as an equal all together. “Lucinda, I said, You stay on and I raise your pay, and you get two nights off a week.” – Mrs. Teece Ironic, because they are “servants” without much respect, but when they decide to leave everyone cries like they are losing a family member.

Hardware Store- Mr. Teece has made Silly basically run his hardware store for him, so Silly says when he gets to Mars he plans to start his own. Now Mr. Teece will have to actually do work and learn how to run his own business. The Black River-symbolic of change. Rivers always flow in the same direction unless they are forced into another direction. The blacks were stuck on the same way of life on earth which was inequality. But they decided to force a new way of life in which they were all equal so they chose to migrate to Mars.