The story takes place in Mississippi in the early 1900’s. It is long after the Civil War, but long before integration. The southern states had been permitted to practice a ‘separate but equal’ policy which really had nothing equal about it. Whites and blacks were separated in every way-separate schools, separate churches, designated water fountains, specific places to stand or sit in a market place, and so forth. Blacks had been freed by the Civil War but many had no place to go accept back to the plantations they had left where they worked as tenant farmers. There they were at the mercy of the landlord who could take whatever percentage he wanted along with other fees.
The ‘night riders’ of the story seem like echoes of the Ku Klux Klan in that they attacked without warning and with little or no provocation. Furthermore, Blacks had very few who would take up their cause, and those who did-like Mr. Jamison-were ridiculed and threatened by others in the community. White men could attack and kill Blacks and were never so much as questioned on it while a Black man could expect severe sentences for even being accused of something a white person did not like.
The Logan family is unusual in this context, for they own their land and thus are not dependent on the white landowners in the area. The land itself, however, is not sufficient to provide their living and the price of their primary crop, cotton, is controlled by those to whom they have to sell it. Then Mr. Logan stays away from home for weeks at a time in order to work on the railroad.
The Essay on Telephone Conversation Black People White
... norm. In the majority of public places black and white people were forced to use separate facilities, among other things. Segregation was ... the prejudices faced by black people and the struggle of white people to stay separated from black people. One can see ... segregation of blacks and whites. During the time of "Incident" and "Telephone Conversation" the exclusion of blacks was common place. This is ...
