The racism a Black, working-class couple faces at work during the Harlem Renaissance spills over into their relationship in violent ways.

In Iowa, a young Black man goes to a party where he meets a host of artist types who cause him to reflect on how people relate to each other.

A Black, southern house servant with internalized racism, joins her mistress on a visit to another region, where she observes Black people acting with something she abhors: autonomy.

A writer reflects on his mother’s incredible strength, which he depicts in a short story. However, his mother does not approve of the piece as he had hoped, and he soon makes an important discovery.

A young white girl takes on responsibility for repaying Black people in America back for their suffering under slavery after hearing a gospel choir sing.

In 2018, a pedestrian on the New York City’s Lower East Side witnesses a young Black couple in love, prompting a consideration about the storytelling, hope, and Nelson Mandela.

As he reflects on a murder perpetrated by his father, a college professor considers the history of his family and how race and violence intersect.

Struggling to write a letter to her old, formidable Mississippian aunt, a woman considers her shame, guilt, exhaustion, and trauma in her Philadelphia apartment that is far from her family and her childhood home.

An insufferable white man offers advice to a well-read, unemployed Black man holding a sandwich-board sign on a street corner on race relations, physical appearance, and how to improve his handwriting and thereby advance himself in society.

A white schoolteacher attempts to connect with the only Black students in her class, a pair of twins whom the rest of their town looks down upon.