Plot Summary
Your Blues Ain't Like Mine
Bebe Moore Campbell
Your Blues Ain't Like Mine
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1992
Plot Summary
American author and teacher Bebe Moore Campbell’s novel Your Blues Ain't Like Mine (1992) spans three decades in the life of an African American family haunted by the lynching of young Armstrong Todd in the rural Mississippi town of Hopewell. The repercussions of this singular, devastating act ripple throughout subsequent generations, the trauma manifesting itself in the lives of Armstrong's descendants and in the citizens of Hopewell, illustrating the corrosive, long-term effects of racial prejudice. The NAACP awarded Your Blues Ain't Like Mine the Image Award for Best Literary Work of Fiction.
Hopewell sits on the Mississippi Delta. In the mid-1950s, teenager Armstrong Todd arrives to live with his grandmother, Odessa. He visits the local pool hall, owned by the poor, white Cox family, where he encounters the owner's wife, Lily Cox. Armstrong speaks to her in French, which outrages her husband, Floyd. Floyd recruits his family members, and they drive to Armstrong's home, intent on "teaching him a lesson" about how to behave respectfully around whites. Tensions escalate upon their arrival, and they lynch Armstrong in Odessa's yard.
Floyd and the rest of the family convince Lily to keep quiet about the murder, even though the whole situation makes her uneasy. The Coxes feel that no one will care about the death of a black man who wasn't even from Hopewell to begin with. However, with the burgeoning civil rights movement starting to penetrate even these areas of the Deep South, the police feel compelled to look for the killer—or at least go through the motions of doing so.
Meanwhile, Clayton Pinochet is the editor of the Hopewell Telegram. As a scion of one of the town's oldest and most respected families, everyone assumes he will maintain the status quo in Hopewell. But Clayton is beginning to question the values of his family and community, much to the consternation of the prominent Pinochets. He starts to see segregation as unfair, citing his own experiences with the blacks in town. Armstrong had worked for Clayton at the paper, and Clayton thought him smart, kind, and capable. In addition, Clayton has a black mistress, Marguerite.
Soon, Armstrong's mother, Delotha, arrives from Chicago to bring her son's body home on the train. To her shock, she learns that because he is black, Armstrong's body will travel with the livestock. The whites in town don't want her to get her hands on the body, fearing that the Northerners will find out what happened and spread negative stories about Hopewell. With no other option, Delotha hides Armstrong's body in the back of a truck and flees town in the dark.
Changes in the landscape of civil rights start to reshape life in Hopewell. It becomes less and less fashionable to be racist. Lily and Floyd find themselves largely shunned by the community because of their backward thinking on racial issues.
Back in Chicago, Delotha reunites with Wydell, her estranged husband and Armstrong's father. They go into business together, opening a beauty salon, which begins very successful. They decide to expand their family and have three more children; one of them, Wydell Jr., becomes the object of Delotha's fixation. Though she seems to be doing well on the outside, Delotha still has not come to terms with Armstrong's death. She even calls Wydell Jr. by Armstrong's name. She also struggles with depression that makes it all but impossible for her to lead a normal life. Wydell has not dealt with the loss, either. Having been sober for years, he resumes his drinking. He and Delotha eventually lose the salon.
The unresolved issues of his parents affect Wydell Jr. as well. He acts out in school and is a troublemaker at home. As an adolescent, he joins a gang. This eventually shakes Wydell Sr. out of his stupor, opening his eyes to the danger his son is in. Determined not to lose another son, Wydell Sr. rescues Jr. from gang life.
The community of Hopewell continues to evolve as the decades pass. Clayton tutors black students and openly challenges the intolerant mindset of his hometown. One day, he learns that his friend Ida Long, a woman of color, is, in reality, his half-sister. Clayton's bigoted father, Stonewall, had had an affair with Ida's mother. Ida grows to accept that she is the daughter of one of the most prejudiced men in town. She decides that to fully claim who she is, she must publicly reveal her father's identity. She also requests from Clayton a portion of Stonewall's estate, to which Clayton ultimately agrees.
In the end, Wydells Sr. and Jr. return to Hopewell, hoping to put the past to rest and to move out from the shadow of Armstrong's long-ago murder.
Hopewell sits on the Mississippi Delta. In the mid-1950s, teenager Armstrong Todd arrives to live with his grandmother, Odessa. He visits the local pool hall, owned by the poor, white Cox family, where he encounters the owner's wife, Lily Cox. Armstrong speaks to her in French, which outrages her husband, Floyd. Floyd recruits his family members, and they drive to Armstrong's home, intent on "teaching him a lesson" about how to behave respectfully around whites. Tensions escalate upon their arrival, and they lynch Armstrong in Odessa's yard.
Floyd and the rest of the family convince Lily to keep quiet about the murder, even though the whole situation makes her uneasy. The Coxes feel that no one will care about the death of a black man who wasn't even from Hopewell to begin with. However, with the burgeoning civil rights movement starting to penetrate even these areas of the Deep South, the police feel compelled to look for the killer—or at least go through the motions of doing so.
Meanwhile, Clayton Pinochet is the editor of the Hopewell Telegram. As a scion of one of the town's oldest and most respected families, everyone assumes he will maintain the status quo in Hopewell. But Clayton is beginning to question the values of his family and community, much to the consternation of the prominent Pinochets. He starts to see segregation as unfair, citing his own experiences with the blacks in town. Armstrong had worked for Clayton at the paper, and Clayton thought him smart, kind, and capable. In addition, Clayton has a black mistress, Marguerite.
Soon, Armstrong's mother, Delotha, arrives from Chicago to bring her son's body home on the train. To her shock, she learns that because he is black, Armstrong's body will travel with the livestock. The whites in town don't want her to get her hands on the body, fearing that the Northerners will find out what happened and spread negative stories about Hopewell. With no other option, Delotha hides Armstrong's body in the back of a truck and flees town in the dark.
Changes in the landscape of civil rights start to reshape life in Hopewell. It becomes less and less fashionable to be racist. Lily and Floyd find themselves largely shunned by the community because of their backward thinking on racial issues.
Back in Chicago, Delotha reunites with Wydell, her estranged husband and Armstrong's father. They go into business together, opening a beauty salon, which begins very successful. They decide to expand their family and have three more children; one of them, Wydell Jr., becomes the object of Delotha's fixation. Though she seems to be doing well on the outside, Delotha still has not come to terms with Armstrong's death. She even calls Wydell Jr. by Armstrong's name. She also struggles with depression that makes it all but impossible for her to lead a normal life. Wydell has not dealt with the loss, either. Having been sober for years, he resumes his drinking. He and Delotha eventually lose the salon.
The unresolved issues of his parents affect Wydell Jr. as well. He acts out in school and is a troublemaker at home. As an adolescent, he joins a gang. This eventually shakes Wydell Sr. out of his stupor, opening his eyes to the danger his son is in. Determined not to lose another son, Wydell Sr. rescues Jr. from gang life.
The community of Hopewell continues to evolve as the decades pass. Clayton tutors black students and openly challenges the intolerant mindset of his hometown. One day, he learns that his friend Ida Long, a woman of color, is, in reality, his half-sister. Clayton's bigoted father, Stonewall, had had an affair with Ida's mother. Ida grows to accept that she is the daughter of one of the most prejudiced men in town. She decides that to fully claim who she is, she must publicly reveal her father's identity. She also requests from Clayton a portion of Stonewall's estate, to which Clayton ultimately agrees.
In the end, Wydells Sr. and Jr. return to Hopewell, hoping to put the past to rest and to move out from the shadow of Armstrong's long-ago murder.
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