Patricia McKissack’s novel, Color Me Dark (2000), exhibits the exemplary civic engagement of one American family. The Love family, which includes Mr. Freeman Love, Mrs. Olive Love, and their two daughters, Nellie Lee and Erma Jean, come from Tennessee. In 1919, the family makes the difficult decision to leave Tennessee and move to Chicago, Illinois. Like many other black families at that time, the Love family leaves the South and moves North in search of a safer environment for their family to live. In both places, however, the Love family encounters injustice. They know that specific changes can make their country a better place for everyone, and they commit to its improvement. In Tennessee, Mr. Love initiates a Colored Men’s Improvement Association (CMIA) that makes real contributions to their community. In Chicago, he continues his membership in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and helps disseminate important information. In Chicago, Mrs. Love protests against the lynchings, or extrajudicial killings, that at the time, black people experience too often at the hands of white people. She also advocates for voting rights for all Americans. Both Mr. and Mrs. Love teach their children, Nellie Lee and Erma Jean, to stay informed and active citizens. Alongside the example that their parents set, the girls develop their own interest and engagement in the world around them. In the historical novel, Color Me Dark, Patricia McKissack highlights the civic engagement of men, women, and children, at a time when injustice seems to reign.

Men

Freeman Love consistently takes an active role in his community and family. Still in Tennessee, Nellie Lee writes about her father in her diary: “Daddy and Mr. James started the Colored Men’s Improvement Association. Daddy’s the president and Mr. James is the treasurer…The men in the CMIA repaired the roof of our schoolhouse” (pp. 10, 17). Mr. Love takes initiative, and organizes the men in his community. After the inception of the local Colored Men’s Improvement Association, or CMIA, Mr. Love continues to devote time as the organization’s leader. Mr. Love spearheads important projects in the community. His timely, organized response to the schoolhouse’s leaky roof facilitates a quick repair. Thanks to Mr. Love and the other men in the CMIA, the local school children can return to school. When the family moves to Chicago, Mr. Love joins the Chicago branch of the NAACP and begins to attend meetings. One day, Nellie Lee relates: “Daddy came home from an NAACP meeting. He’s real excited. The tenth anniversary of the NAACP will be celebrated at the annual conference in Cleveland. Daddy has been selected to attend the conference and to even make a speech about how difficult it is to be a member of the NAACP in the South” (p. 100). Upon his return from a meeting, Mr. Love happily tells his family that he plans to travel to attend the larger, yearly meeting of the NAACP. Furthermore, he plans to speak about his experience as a black man in Tennessee. In Chicago, like in Tennessee, Mr. Love takes on responsibilities for his local organizations. Mr. Love’s colleagues in Chicago depend on Mr. Love to attend the annual NAACP conference in order to gain more information to bring back to them, and also to share his own firsthand knowledge so people around the country can better understand the conditions in the southern states. Mr. Love not only participates in his community, he makes sure that his children at home learn to seek information and become interested in civic engagement. Nellie Lee writes: “The first week in every month The Crisis comes. Daddy reads it [to us] from cover to cover and then again so as not to miss one comma or question mark. I love the articles, poems, stories, and all about what Colored people are doing, and what the NAACP is doing to make things better for our people” (p. 23). Mr. Love buys the official magazine of the NAACP every month, and consistently reads the magazine aloud to his family. He reads the magazine carefully and more than once, which communicates its importance to his children. The time and care he dedicates to the tradition imbues his children with an interest in civil rights, politics, and culture as well. Freeman Love dedicates time to the Colored Men’s Improvement Association, to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and to educational time with his children, all which contribute to the betterment of society.

Women

Like her husband, Olive Love advocates for justice in the United States. Both in Tennessee and Illinois, the Love family witnesses the lynchings, or murders, of black people. Olive Love tries to stop these killings. In Chicago, “Mama attended an anti-lynching rally with her women’s Club members. A mob tried to break them up, but the ladies locked arms and stood their ground. Some white ladies joined them, and the mob backed down” (p. 134). Olive knows that lynchings are unjust, as they are killings that have no authority under the law. She decides to join others in her community to speak out against the injustice. When Olive and others go to protest, some people try to silence them, but Olive and her fellow protestors persist. They continue to protest and attract even more support. Ultimately, the protestors overcome the people who want to sabotage their resistance. Olive illustrates how individuals can participate in organized group efforts and bravely call for change. Olive Love also shows public support for the voting rights of all Americans. Nellie Lee writes in her journal: “Mama is still working hard in the suffrage movement - handing out pamphlets and attending meetings. She is not as timid or shy as she used to be, but she is always a lady, very proper even during the worst of times” (p. 180). Suffrage, or the right to vote in political elections, does not apply to all Americans in the United States when the Love family moves to Chicago. Nellie Lee observes that her mother, Olive, dedicates consistent time to causes that are important to her.Soon after the family arrives in Chicago, Olive Love brings her husband and children to a church service near their home. Olive enjoys the service and when the Reverend Prince McDonald tells her about the youth lecture series he hosts, Olive agrees to bring her daughters. The next week, “…Mama walked us to Reverend McDonald’s Open Mind Church and Youth Center…It was exciting to know that Dr. DuBois had written a book about Africa. [Nellie Lee] had never heard of kingdoms in Africa…Mama hadn’t intended to, but she stayed the entire time” (pp. 93-94). Olive Love takes her daughters to the youth center for a Saturday lecture, where enjoys the topic so much that she stays for the whole lecture. Through Reverend McDonald, Mrs. Love helps expose her young daughters to the work of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, a leader in the fight for civil rights in the United States. Olive models to her daughters how to seek out educational opportunities in the community, and how to find joy in learning outside of school. Mrs. Love fights back against lynching, shows her support for universal suffrage, and introduces her daughters to places of learning in their community.

Children

Erma Jean and Nellie Lee follow their parents’ example and know that they can participate in society, and effectuate positive change. At school in Chicago, the girls’ teacher reveals that she is misinformed about African history. Erma Jean and Nellie Lee decide to help their teacher, their classmates, and themselves, when they go to someone who does know about African history: “[Erma Jean] went straight to Reverend Prince and told him what Miss Franklin had said…This very afternoon when school was out, Reverend Prince came to Miss Franklin’s room and spoke to her out in the hallway. I don’t know how he managed it, but Reverend Prince is going to speak to our class tomorrow” (p. 150). Erma Jean and Nellie Lee see a need at their school, and they know who can help them. Erma Jean tells Reverend Prince about their problem at school and he immediately volunteers to come speak to their teacher and offer his time. Miss Franklin agrees to have Reverend Prince come as a guest speaker. In December, 1919, the Love sisters’ neighbor, Mother Doris, invites the Love family to help serve dinner at the YMCA on Christmas Day for people who are homeless or newly arrived from the South. Nellie Lee relates that on December 25th, “As was planned, we worked at the YMCA. I helped to set the table, and Erma Jean sliced cake and put it on plates. I couldn’t help but think that a few months ago we were new to Chicago, not knowing anybody…Now we were telling wide-eyed children from Alabama and Mississippi about the wonders of Chicago” (p. 178). On Christmas Day, Nellie Lee and Erma Jean volunteer at the local nonprofit community center. They complete small tasks in preparation of the meal, and then talk to the children there. The sisters share their knowledge of Chicago with the more newly arrived children. Because their parents introduce Nellie Lee and Erma Jean to Dr. W.E.B DuBois, the NAACP, and _The Crisis, _the girls develop their own interest. Nellie Lee relates: “_The Crisis _arrived. Dr. DuBois announced that there will be twelve Brownie issues instead of the one per year. Erma and I begged Daddy to let us subscribe to it” (p. 151). Nellie Lee pays close attention to the monthly magazine from the NAACP that her father always gets. Nellie Lee and her sister learn that the NAACP plans to issue a magazine especially for young people and they are eager to become subscribers. The Love sisters organize guest speakers at their school, volunteer at the local YMCA, and make sure they stay informed as they see their parents do.

In Color Me Dark, the members of the Love family work hard to improve their own lives, as well as the lives of others. Author Patricia McKissack portrays a father, mother, and children who educate themselves and others, and participate in their community. With the CMIA in Tennessee, Mr. Love facilitates work such as the local school’s roof repair. In Chicago, he devotes time to the NAACP, and helps spread information. From Tennessee to Illinois, Mr. Love also consistently reads to his daughters, and ensures that they are aware of current events. With her Women’s club, Mrs. Love protests against lynching and unequal voting rights. She looks for extracurricular opportunities for her daughters and models to them how to find joy in learning. Nellie Lee and Erma Jean learn from their parents, and act when they know they can help improve a situation. The girls get Reverend Prince to come to their school and educate their class, including their teacher, on specific topics in African history. They share their time and their own knowledge at the YMCA with children who are new to Chicago. Finally, the girls maintain an interest in the NAACP’s magazine, The Crisis, and its other publications. Color Me Dark follows the Love family through the year 1919, at a time during which many black families leave the southern United States for other regions in the country because of the social, economic, and political suppression, and violence they experience in the South. Through the Love family, Patricia McKissack illustrates some of the real challenges, and hard won victories, for many black families in 20th century America.

References

McKissack, P. (2000). Color Me Dark. Scholastic Inc.