Fire from the Rock

Sylvia’s mother arrives home very excited with a new copy of the latest issue of Time magazine. On the cover, there is a full-spread photo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Her mother is excited because this is the first time a “Negro” face has appeared on the cover of the magazine and she thinks times are changing. She also says that she thinks this picture will make a lot of white people very uncomfortable. Sylvia agrees and sets aside some money to buy her own copy of the magazine. In her diary, Sylvia writes about the African country of Ghana, which is the focus of one of the articles in the magazine. She notes that Martin Luther King is attending the celebration in honor of the founding of the new country of Ghana.

While spending a quiet afternoon at home, Sylvia decides to sit at the kitchen table with her mother and Aunt Bessie as they all work to stick green stamps in books to earn prizes. While they fill the books, they chat. Her mother mentions that the state senate voted in four new segregation bills, including one that makes attendance at integrated schools optional. Aunt Bessie says that Jews who survived Auschwitz are getting paid $1,000.