Dreamers, Coates speculates, would rather live white than live free.Ĭoates returns to Dr. The county has forgotten it is part of the Dream. Jones could not lean on her country for help with her loss. Their looks were “noble and vacuous” (142). At Howard he got to be normal.Ĭoates compares Mabel’s face to the stoic faces of 1960s protestors. Prince was tired of having to represent other people, tired of being singled out, tired of not being normal. He wanted to go to Howard even though Mabel wanted him to go to an Ivy. People treated her with respect when she became chief of radiology at a hospital.Ĭoates asked about Prince’s childhood. She had a full college scholarship and worked incredibly hard to become a radiologist, something she saw no other black person becoming. She told Coates how people loved her, but jeered black members of other teams while she sat right next to them. She’d integrated her town’s high school, became a track star and class president. They drank tea and she spoke of her enslaved ancestors. The house was quiet and a picture of Prince was on display. Her eyes held a deep sadness that Coates was afraid his visit had reawakened. Mabel Jones was an elegant, older black woman. She agreed and he arrived in Philadelphia to visit her at her home.ĭr. He called her and asked if he could come see her. In the years following Prince’s death, Coates thought often of the man’s daughter and fiancée, but mostly he thought about his mother.
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