In chapter 29, Angelou narrates the character of Daddy Clidell, who is friends with other Black men known for their successful con efforts toward racist white people. She describes a time when they cheated a white man from Tulsa, getting him to eventually pay $40,000 for land that didn't exist.

Following this description, she reflects,

The needs of a society determine its ethics, and in the Black American ghettos the hero is that man who is offered only the crumbs from his country's table but by ingenuity and courage is able to take for himself a Lucullan feast.

In this quote, Angelou amplifies the importance within the Black community to thrive despite being offered so little support from society. The hero, then, is the man who can purchase a Cadillac despite living in a one-room apartment. The hero is the Black man who purchases expensive (and it is suggested) impractical shoes despite being classified as a "domestic." These visible and tangible pieces of evidence demonstrate a gain for the Black community as a whole and point to the fortitude with which Black people can navigate a society which has not been structured to encourage their success.

The hero of the Black American ghettos learns to navigate his world using the meager resources which he has been allotted and finds victories along the way, sometimes by masterfully using the prejudices of white people against them.