is published in a local Negro newspaper. But he receives no positive feedback from his family or his peers. When Richard graduates from school, he is elected valedictorian. But the school principal approaches Richard, giving him a pre-written speech to read at the graduation ceremony. Richard refuses to read the speech, sabotaging an opportunity to attain a teaching position by reading a speech he composed himself. Now desperate for money, Richard acts as a porter in a clothing store, where he witnesses the wrong and brutal treatment of black people. He is driven off of several jobs because white people do not approve of the way he acts; Richard does not now how to laugh or talk like "the other niggers." His schoolmate, Griggs, helps him find a job in a Yankee-owned optical trade shop. His boss, Mr. Crane, is decent; however, Pease and Reynolds two white workers at the shop harass Richard into leaving his job. Richard finds a job as a cleaning boy at a hotel in town, where he encounters other black boys his age. One boy named Shorty surprises him by degrading himself, allowing a white man to kick him in the ass for a quarter. Richard leaves his job to take a job at the theater, where he is involved in a ticket scam. He makes enough from the scam to move to Memphis. In Memphis, Richard finds a room for rent on the ill-reputed Beale street. His landlady, Mrs. Moss, wishes to have Richard marry her daughter, Bess. Richard refuses to start a relationship with Bess because she is too simple-minded. In Memphis, Richard obtains a job at another optical company. His job is progressing until one day, the head foreman Mr. Olin lies to Richard, telling him that Harrison another black boy is going to kill him. Mr. Olin constantly tries to provoke the two black boys into killing each other; finally, he offers them five dollars each if they will box with each other. Harrison and Richard agree, fighting to the point of exhaustion. Meanwhile, Ric...
