The Darkest Child

Tarabelle tells Rozelle that Arlisa Munford is pregnant, and Rozelle claims to be pregnant, too, even though she allegedly had a hysterectomy. Tangy plans to use the money from Crow to buy a prom dress. Crow is supposed to pick Rozelle up for a date, but he never arrives.

On Sunday, Velman picks Rozelle up and then brings her back with a new clock and a radio. Rozelle demands that Tangy give her Crow’s money. Tangy gives her the $20 bill, but not the $5. Rozelle tells Tangy never to “steal” from her again. Tangy says she needs a prom dress. Rozelle tells Tangy to get a job. Tangy is furious and tells Tarabelle about the bus ticket that Rozelle intercepted from Mushy. Rozelle snaps Tangy’s finger.

Pearl takes Tangy to get a prom dress. Rozelle warns Tangy not to let Jeff kiss her. Tangy attends prom with Jeff, has fun, and lets him kiss her.

After the Fourth of July parade, most of the siblings are out, but Tangy and Martha Jean are home. Rozelle dangles Judy off the edge of the porch, above a steep gully. Rozelle throws Judy to her death. Martha Jean sits outside rocking Judy’s corpse, while Tangy runs to Pearl and Frank’s house. They return, and Rozelle claims that Judy “fell.”

Sheriff Betts, Chadlow, and Dr. Mathis arrive. Dr. Mathis needs to examine Judy to see if she’s really dead, but Martha Jean won’t release her. Sheriff Betts asks Rozelle what happened, and she again claims that Judy “fell.” Betts seems a bit skeptical but he doesn’t argue. The other siblings return home, and neighbors gather around.

Chadlow gets tired of waiting for Martha Jean to release Judy, so he tries to roughly take the baby, making Martha Jean scream. Sam gets in a scuffle with Chadlow, but Sheriff Betts interferes. Velman arrives and gets Martha Jean to release Judy so Dr. Mathis can examine her.

Velman informs Rozelle that he’s taking Martha Jean home with him. Velman gave Rozelle a clock, radio, and car, and he taught her to drive. In exchange, Velman takes Martha Jean to live with him. Harvey and Sam suggest that Rozelle killed Judy; Rozelle expresses worry over town gossip.

Later, people come to share their condolences. Zadie arrives with a jar of liquid, which she sprinkles in the yard; Rozelle panics as if Zadie is doing witchcraft.

Three weeks later, Rozelle drives further and further in her car. Tangy wrote a letter to Mushy about Judy’s death but never heard back, so she writes another. Rozelle forbids the kids from saying Judy’s name.

Sam, Hambone, and Maxwell clear a parking spot for Rozelle’s car in the field next to the house. Maxwell finds rats and panics. Rozelle says she doesn’t want rats in her house, so Tarabelle pours hot oil on them.

Now that Rozelle smokes cigarettes and has a car, she has more expenses. Harvey gives her money sometimes, but Sam no longer works. Tarabelle’s domestic servitude job is the Quinn family’s only reliable income, yet Rozelle blames Tarabelle whenever they’re short on food, encouraging her to steal from the Munfords. Meanwhile, Rozelle spends extra money on gas and attempts to drive over the Georgia state line.

Laura is sad following Judy’s death, so Rozelle instructs Tangy to steal a dress for her. Tangy is nervous about stealing, so Wallace offers to help her get a dress without stealing if she’ll clean the outhouse for him.

Wallace takes Tangy to Zadie’s house. Zadie explains that she’s Rozelle’s mother and the kids’ grandmother. Her husband, John, isn’t their grandpa; Zadie was raped by a group of men, and she got pregnant with Rozelle. Zadie thought Rozelle was the devil’s baby and wouldn’t bond with her. Rozelle became disobedient, and Zadie kicked her out of the house at 13. Tangy is overwhelmed by the story, so she runs off. Wallace catches up to her and gives her money for a dress, which Zadie gave him.

Tangy buys a dress and walks home. She runs into Jeff Stallings, who will be leaving for college soon. He invites her to the fair. They part ways, and Tarabelle appears. Tarabelle has a plan for how Tangy can work but continue school. The Whitman family is hiring a domestic worker for Saturdays and Wednesdays. Tangy could stay after school on non-workdays to make up for what she missed on Wednesdays.

Tangy visits the Whitmans and finds Veatrice outside covered in mud. There is a mess inside. Veatrice seems a little discombobulated, but her brother, Bakker, is offering to pay three dollars per day. Veatrice hires Tangy.

Rozelle says the Whitmans aren’t paying enough, so she wants Tangy to work for the Griggs family instead, even though they’ve already hired a different girl. Rozelle walks Tangy to the Griggs’s house. The boys—Kirk, Dave, and Donnie—appear, and one of them hits Rozelle with the door. Tangy rushes at him. The boys call Rozelle and Tangy a racial slur; Becky, the girl who works for them, comes out. The three white boys fight Rozelle, Tangy, and Becky. Eventually, the boys retreat inside, and Rozelle, Tangy, and Becky leave. Becky quits.

Rozelle becomes convinced that invisible bugs are crawling on her. Rozelle confesses to destroying the bus ticket Mushy mailed for Tarabelle. She’s still mad at Mushy for moving away, but she’s not as mad at Harvey because he’s still in town. Rozelle says Tangy might never marry due to her dark skin, and if she doesn’t, she’ll have to support herself, Rozelle, and possibly Edna, who is also dark-skinned. At home, Sam asks Tangy if she and Rozelle fought the Griggs boys and if they gave Rozelle a bruise on her face. Tangy says yes but urges Sam to forget it.

Rozelle’s car gets stuck in the field, and six men can’t get it out, so she hits Tangy. She blames Velman for the car, declaring she’ll take Martha Jean back.

Sheriff Betts and Chadlow arrest Sam for beating up one of the Griggs brothers. Sam is also a suspect in Junior’s murder because somebody saw Junior with a white man before his death. Sheriff Betts insists no white man would hang around a Black man, and because Sam is light-skinned, it was probably him. Sam is furious. Rozelle returns home with Martha Jean.

That night, Tangy overhears Rozelle talking to Sheriff Betts, who claims he’s trying to protect Sam by keeping him in jail; he’s afraid the Griggs boy’s dad will gather a mob to lynch Sam. Sam might be Sheriff Betts’s son. Rozelle offers to sleep with Betts if he’ll release Sam, but Betts declines.

Rozelle asks Mr. Munford, a lawyer, for help getting Sam out of jail, but he isn’t willing to help, nor does he think any local lawyer would help a Black man who assaulted a white boy.

Velman and his uncle, Skeeter, come over with a tow truck to free Rozelle’s car and retrieve Martha Jean. Tangy likes Velman because he is protective. Rozelle swats invisible bugs again. Velman, Skeeter, and Martha Jean leave.

The first day of school is also the day that Black people are allowed to go to the fair. Velman gave Rozelle some money, so she gives the kids a couple of dollars.

Tangy walks with Tarabelle, who is pleased to have her first-ever friend, Mattie. Tarabelle says she sometimes wishes she was dead. Tangy suggests she leave town with Mushy, but Tarabelle says Mushy is exactly like their mother. Dorothy Tate, Melvin’s wife, glares at Tarabelle, and Tarabelle threatens to fight her, but Dorothy retreats. Melvin allegedly purchases Tarabelle’s sex work services. Tangy now understands that her mother forces Tarabelle into sex work. Tarabelle got pregnant, and Pearl performed an abortion using a wire coat hanger. Tangy tells Tarabelle that she’s brave, then goes to the fair.

Tangy sees Martha Jean and Velman, who are now married. She sees Jeff, and they listen to Hambone’s speech about politics. He argues that ignorance allows racism and segregation to persist. Hambone wants Black people to unite and fight for human rights. Some people argue that they can’t do this because they have families to worry about. Hambone brings up Junior’s death, which rallies the crowd. Then, white men with guns chase the Black crowd away from the fair.

People get injured, but nobody dies. Jeff takes Tangy and her siblings in his car. Jeff is leaving for college soon, but he’ll return in December to visit. He worries nothing will have changed.

Tangy goes to work at the Whitmans’, where Hambone and some other men are painting. Tangy asks Veatrice, who often uses racial slurs, not to use them around the men outside, but Veatrice does not agree.

Hambone tells Tangy that he’s working on the roof to save money so he can leave town. Tangy is grateful nobody died at the fair, but Hambone argues that nobody has the right to use violence. Tangy asks Hambone if he thinks he has a right to treat her violently, like he did when he sexually attacked her in her mother’s kitchen. Hambone half-apologizes for his behavior; Tarabelle helped him see the error of his ways.