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If Maud’s suffragist mother, Matilda, had taught her anything, it was that if you wanted something, you needed to ask for it—or demand it, if necessary.
The girl’s big voice effortlessly filled the room. When she stopped singing, the silence that followed seemed like the plain sister of a beautiful girl.
“For the record, let it be known that this is true. Too much control can stunt a girl, sap her of courage, and render her weak.”
If you pinch yourself, it will remind you that it’s better to be strong—when you’re strong, then you can fight.”
As Mother had assured her many times before, every man, woman, and child, Negro, believer, unbeliever, and even the critters of the field deserved an equal shot at happiness.
“You want me to emulate the behavior of a potted plant?”
It wasn’t enough to push open the doors. You had to change minds.
Their worlds were full of mystical connections and wild coincidences—beautiful twists of fate that unfolded to give one’s life a shape as graceful and parabolic as a perfectly plotted book.
“Isn’t that what the theater is? You conjure up something out of nothing—you build a whole world from the ground up out of nothing but the images that dance around in your mind.
It was disheartening to think that with all of the things that had changed for women, including education and the vote—privileges her mother had fought for but never seen come to pass—some perceptions had still not changed for girls, like the simple fact that the growth of one’s own body could be seen as an act of treason.
but she felt immersed in a glow, as if a trailing fire of limelight had come along, flickering along behind them, leaving a bright tail of sparkles in the darkness.
She looked up, and his soft lips met hers—for a moment she was flying through space, the world as she knew it tilting and tipping and disappearing, replaced by a white-hot light.
They might pretend to embrace the principles of equality, but not when asked to put them into practice.
