The Only Man on Liberty Street (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: William Melvin Kelley
- First Published: 1963
- Type of Plot: Domestic realism
- Time of Work: About 1880
- Setting: A city on the Gulf coast of Alabama
- Principal Characters: Maynard Herder, Josephine, Jennie
- Genres: Short fiction, Domestic realism
- Subjects: African Americans, Children, Parents and children, Racism, Blacks, Biracial people, South or Southerners, Nineteenth century
- Locales: Alabama
The Story
As Jennie is playing in the dirt of the front yard of her home, she sees a man ride up the street, dismount, and come into the yard. Jennie sees this man once or twice each week, when he comes to visit her mother, Josephine. Most of the black women who live in the houses on Liberty Street receive such visitors. Jennie's mother has told her that this white man, Mister Herder, is her father, even though he does not live with them.
On this day, however, Herder is carrying a carpetbag of his clothes, and in the house he promises that he will never return to his...
[The entire page is 1326 words long]
