In chapter 3 of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, a former sheriff comes to Momma's house to warn them that Uncle Willie should lay low that night because a Black man "messed with a white lady today." He adds ominously, "Some of the boys'll be coming over here later."

What he means is that the Ku Klux Klan have organized a lynch mob to avenge the attack on the white woman. It does not matter that Uncle Willie is completely innocent or that he could not have attacked the woman even if he had wanted to, since he is disabled. The Klan have arbitrarily decided to take revenge on some Black man or other, and Uncle Willie is in danger.

Marguerite and her family hide Uncle Willie in the container where they normally keep potatoes and onions. He cowers there in terror throughout the night, moaning as though he were actually guilty of some terrible crime. The Klan do not come this time, though Marguerite thinks they would certainly have found Uncle Willie in his rudimentary hiding place if they had done so. She also thinks that the former sheriff is confident of having done a good deed by warning them, but she is outraged by his confidence that a Black man should run and hide because the Klan is rampaging lawlessly around town.