53 pages • 1 hour read
Shana BurgA Thousand Never Evers
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2008A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Content Warning: This section discusses depictions of racial violence and discrimination and quotes outdated and racially insensitive language.
On June 12, 1963, 12-year-old Addie Ann Pickett has just graduated from elementary school. She receives a dollar from her Uncle Bump, a tradition in her family for when the children move on to middle school.
Addie Ann goes to find her brother, Elias, to buy dye for her dress for her new school in the fall. Elias works on Sam Mudge’s land, something he has done since he was five.
Addie Ann crosses to the white side of their town in Kuckachoo, Mississippi, to find her brother at work. He is distraught at the death of Medgar Evers, but Addie Ann struggles to understand who he is. Elias tells her that he is part of the “movement” and had three young children. The thought upsets Addie Ann, whose father died of pneumonia before she was born, when Elias was only four.
Addie Ann and Elias go to the fabric shop, where Addie Ann buys yellow dye for her dress. She is upset that her brother keeps them there past closing, talking to his friend, Bessie, about Evers’s death.
When they return home, their mom is angry at their late arrival home. Addie Ann attempts to lie to her about where they were, but Elias admits that he got caught up talking about Evers’s death. The reminder of his death upsets their mother, who remarks on how he was “stirring up trouble” trying to get schools integrated but that he was doing good and did not deserve to die (8-9).
Chapter 2 Summary
Addie Ann’s family are servants for Old Man Adams. He owns the largest land in town, which he uses to grow vegetables tended by Addie Ann’s family.
In the living room, the wealthiest white men in town—the sheriff, the mayor, a preacher, and others—have gathered around Old Man Adams, who is moments away from death. Because he has no children or immediate family, Addie Ann notes how “the white folk are sure when he passes, he’ll leave his property to one of them” (11-12).
Old Man Adams passes away. Addie Ann watches as the preacher prays over him and his body is taken out, with the men following. She returns to the kitchen, where Elmira (Adams’s cook) and Uncle Bump are distraught at Adams’s death.
Chapter 3 Summary
A few days after Adams’s death, Addie Ann is outside dyeing her dress when a lawyer arrives. He informs her that she, Uncle Bump, and Elmira need to come to the reading of Adams’s will, as he left them each a gift.
At the will reading, the sheriff and mayor are also present, convinced that the land has been left to them. The lawyer states that Adams left Uncle Bump his gold pocket watch, Elmira his oven, and Addie Ann his television. The idea excites Addie Ann, who thinks of everything she will watch and how she will one day be on television herself; however, her glee is cut short by the laughter of the sheriff and mayor, who remind her that there is not even electricity in the Black community.
The lawyer then reads the rest of Adams’s will, informing the group that his house has been left to the community, as has all his land. Adams’s plan is for the community to continue the garden, writing that “together whites and Negroes shall plant a garden” (21).
The contents of the will anger the mayor and sheriff. They turn to Uncle Bump and demand that he hand over the keys to Adams’s property. Uncle Bump initially refuses but relents as the sheriff pulls his gun and threatens him. Addie Ann thinks of how unlikely it is that the community garden will come to fruition with the mayor and sheriff in control.
Chapter 4 Summary
On July 1—two weeks after Adams’s death—there is a civil rights meeting at the church. Although Addie Ann does not really have any interest in going, she had Elias beg their mother to let her go simply because she was told that she couldn’t.
Before the meeting, Addie Ann has her first day of work with her mother at the Tates’ house. Her primary responsibility is taking care of their young baby, Ralphie.
When Mrs. Tate comes home, as Addie Ann and her mother prepare to leave, Mrs. Tate stops them to ask about the meeting. She is concerned that the Black people are angry, but Addie Anne notes how her mother “fibs” when she responds that the meeting is made up of just “outside agitators” (29).
Chapter 5 Summary
At the civil rights meeting held at the church, people gather from all over the county. Addie Ann sees her teacher that she will have in her first year of middle school, Mrs. Jacks. She sits next to her best friend, Delilah, whose eyes are locked on Cool Breeze Huddleston, one of their classmates who used to be nerdy but now is muscular and attractive.
The preacher, Reverend Walker, leads the group in prayer and then introduces the speaker, Tyrone Tubbs, from the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). Initially, Addie Ann is uninterested in what is going on, and she jokes around with Delilah. However, when Tubbs mentions Medgar Evers, she begins to pay attention, noting how “there’s something about that Medgar guy and his funny name and his sad story and the way Mama and Elias are so upset he died that wakes [her] up” (35).
Tubbs talks about how Evers was assassinated and how they must finish his work in equality. He tells them that Evers fought for his country in World War II but returned to be mistreated as a Black man in the South, which shocks Addie Ann and makes her think, for the first time, about how unfair things are for Black people. He also says that they are planning a march on Washington and asks the county’s preachers to join him.
Their meeting is interrupted as they realize that someone has lit a cross on fire outside the church. Everyone panics and attempts to leave, failing in the chaos. However, Addie Ann hears Mrs. Jacks as she starts to calmly sing in the back row. More and more people join in, singing “We Shall Overcome” together. The singing calms the group enough to make their way out of the church as “the burning cross lights [their] way home” (41).
Chapters 1-5 Analysis
The first section of the novel takes place in the summer of 1963, situating Addie Ann’s life at the peak of the civil rights movement. As a work of historical fiction, the setting of the novel references two important real-world events: the assassination of Medgar Evers on June 12, 1963, and the planned March on Washington on August 28, 1963. At the young age of 12, Addie Ann’s ignorance of these events reveals her immaturity. Her interest in Evers’s death hinges on his “funny name” and her ability to connect with the fact that his children lost their father at a young age (35). However, she is also beginning to recognize some of the injustices against which the civil rights leaders are fighting. For example, she notes how “a Negro can serve his country—maybe even die for his country—and if he’s lucky enough to survive, he’ll come back to this,” which in turn makes her realize that “before now [she] didn’t think about how unfair things are” (35). These initial realizations about racial inequality stemming from important events in the civil rights movement begin Addie Ann’s growth and development, introducing the theme of Finding One’s Voice in the Fight Against Prejudice. The novel, as a bildungsroman, will continue to explore Addie Ann’s maturation and growth, with racial inequality in the South in 1963 as the catalyst.
The first section of the novel also sets up one central conflict of the text. When Old Man Adams passes away, he explicitly leaves his garden to the entire community—both Black and white. However, the mayor’s and sheriff’s responses to his will make it clear to Addie Ann that this idea will never be allowed by the white community. The battle over the garden will become a central conflict of the text, with the meeting over Adams’s will serving as the inciting incident of the novel.
Adams’s will and the lawyer’s inability to execute it also introduce the theme of Institutionalized Racism as a Tool for Oppression. Even though a legally binding document grants the Black community the right to use the garden, it is clear that this is not going to happen. Additionally, two other institutions—the law in the form of the sheriff and government in the form of the mayor—actively refuse to follow the legal document. These two corrupt officials are going to use their power to continue to oppress the Black community.
One institution that will help the Black community throughout the text, however, is the church. The church and Reverend Walker allow people throughout the community to discuss the events occurring in the civil rights movement and also how to further the cause within their own community. The fact that Addie Ann notices people from all over the county shows the importance of Community Support Against Injustice. As the cross burns outside the church and the Black community goes into a panic trying to escape, Mrs. Jacks begins to sing, encouraging the others to join in and ultimately quelling their panic. This collective singing shows their ability to work together and come together as one—something that will become crucial in the latter parts of the text to fight back against the inequality they face.
