Mama was in the kitchen making Sunday dinner—she had invited Howie to stay, in her gruff way—and every time I said something she didn’t like she made a whole big clatter with the pots. [Laughs] See, my mother had told me that I would be a fool not to take this white man up on his offer, leave home and make something of myself. But I understood my worth, even when everybody else thought I came cheap. I have never been one of those okey-doke, “just happy to be here” Negroes, you see what I’m saying? So I’m looking down at that contract and reading words like perpetuity and likeness, words and
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