Big Lies in a Small Town: A Novel

Content Warning: This section of the guide references a sexual assault.

By 1940, slavery had officially been abolished for 75 years, but what is enshrined in law does not always translate to attitudes and practice. A tense détente exists in Edenton. Although Jesse is permitted to work alongside Anna, their relationship fuels rumors and speculation, none of which are true, and Pauline cautions Anna not dismiss the rumors out of hand, for although spurious, such rumors carry the risk of escalating into something far uglier. In blatant expressions of their own racist views, both Pauline’s husband, Karl, and Martin also warn Anna about being left alone with Jesse. By contrast, Anna sees Jesse’s gentle nature and artistic talent, but the Edenton townsfolk see him as a threat, based upon a deeply misguided and racist assumption that all Black men are potential sexual predators. These racist attitudes manifest in multiple ways, for Theresa, one of Anna’s student volunteers, quits when her father forbids her from working alongside Jesse. Even Myrtle, perhaps Edenton’s most progressive senior citizen, maintains a separate bathroom for her Black housekeeper. When Jesse helps dispose of Martin’s body and all of the incriminating evidence, he knows that his and Anna’s only viable option is to run, for a Black man who is merely in the vicinity of a dead white man may very well suffer the consequences of false accusations, hysteria, and mob violence. In another world, a world free of racist assumptions and biases, Jesse and Anna could tell Karl the truth and not fear for their lives, but in Edenton in 1940, Jim Crow reigns supreme, and Black men cannot hope for a fair trial when a white man is dead and the rumor mill is churning. A Black family like the Williamses may own a home and farm their land in peace, but the continuation of that peace is always contingent upon the mood of the surrounding white residents. The Williamses’ land—which was originally promised to them upon their descendants’ emancipation—has been taken away before, and they have since been forced to reclaim it, piecemeal. The moment they are perceived as a threat, such an injustice might easily be repeated, and with a single stroke of a legislative pen, the family could lose everything all over again. They harbor Anna because they feel indebted to her for her mentorship of Jesse, but they also realize that if caught, the penalties for providing sanctuary to a felon can be severe, even more so due to the color of their skin.

It is important to note that the legacy of injustice rooted in racism works a bit differently in the contemporary storyline. Morgan, a product of her modern age and fully cognizant of the past sins of white people, feels not dominant in her relationship with Lisa but submissive. Not only does Lisa hold the power in this relationship, but Morgan also fears that her own freedom may depend on the capricious mood of a Black woman: a woman who is all too familiar with the crimes perpetrated against her race. Morgan therefore fears guilt by association, for as her narrative voice states, “Why was this woman wound so tight? Did she resent the fact that I was a criminal she'd been forced to spring from jail? […] Or maybe that I was white on top of it all?” (20). Morgan is utterly in Lisa’s power, a reversal of centuries of white dominance rendered in the subtle gestures and tones of a Black woman who holds sway over the life of a white woman.