57 pages • 1 hour read
Angel Of Greenwood
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Chapters 19-28Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 19 Summary: “Isaiah”
From Isaiah’s perspective, Deacon Yancey doesn’t like him because, long ago, his mother used to date Deacon Yancey’s son Pete and was going to marry him. However, she met Isaiah’s father and married him instead. Looking through his notebook, Isaiah notices his college application essays are missing. It infuriates him that Muggy would take them.
Isaiah passes by a flower shop owned by Mrs. Turner. His father used to buy his mom a single rose from that store every Friday. He also passes a dry cleaner owned by Mr. Massey, where his dad used to get his clothes washed. Everything reminds him of his dad, and he decides he’s been a coward regarding Muggy, not how his dad would want him to be. He goes to Muggy’s house and bangs on the door, but Muggy won’t come outside.
Chapter 20 Summary: “Angel”
Angel is grateful to live in Greenwood, which she considers an idyllic Black community, compared to where her grandmother lives, where the inequality is blaring, with Black women taking care of white women’s children while white women do leisure activities. She goes home and finds her dad already asleep. She’s relieved she doesn’t have to help lift him into bed tonight.
Chapter 21 Summary: “Angel”
Wednesday, May 25, 1921; 6 Days Before
Angel tells her parents about her summer job with Isaiah. They’re happy about the job but skeptical about Isaiah. Still, they allow her to do it.
Chapter 22 Summary: “Isaiah”
Isaiah plans on being a better, kinder person now that he’s no longer friends with Muggy, and he gets to spend time with Angel instead. Miss Ferris goes to get some bike-fixing supplies from Mr. Odum and leaves Isaiah and Angel to choose their first batch of books to deliver from her extensive personal library. She has both The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois and Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington. Isaiah feels like he needs to “unshackle” Angel from her admiration of Washington and show her the true wisdom that can only come from reading his favorite author, Du Bois. He claims his job is to “save” her.
Chapter 23 Summary: “Angel”
Angel tells Isaiah that it’s not his role to save her and that he’s being condescending. Isaiah has never left Greenwood, so he hasn’t seen Black communities like where Angel’s grandmother lives and doesn’t understand Booker T. Washington’s perspective. Isaiah argues that Washington’s ideas will only help Black people tread water, not make real progress. Angel thinks Isaiah just doesn’t understand the time and place in which Washington was writing.
Chapter 24 Summary: “Isaiah”
Isaiah and Angel continue choosing their first batch of books to deliver. Miss Ferris returns and sends Isaiah to write for a while. He writes about Angel and how he wants to save her from Washington’s limiting ideas, her admiration of which is foolish. Miss Ferris feeds them soup, and the three of them discuss how they feel guilty for getting to live in idyllic Greenwood while other Black people live in much worse communities.
Chapter 25 Summary: “Angel”
Discussing the guilt they feel about living in Greenwood with relatively little suffering compared to many other Black people, Isaiah and Angel again start arguing about Washington and Du Bois. Angel accuses Isaiah of only caring about winning arguments, then says he’s just as bad as a white man. Miss Ferris tells her never to say something like that to a Black man again, or she won’t be welcome in her house. Angel cries and says she understands. They all agree that Greenwood is able to thrive not because of anything material but because of the faith, hope, and knowledge of its residents, which didn’t exist for people in bondage.
Chapter 26 Summary: “Isaiah”
Thursday, May 26, 1921; 5 Days Before
The kids finish choosing their books. Isaiah takes home The Secret Garden, one of Angel’s choices he hadn’t read before, and cries. Isaiah’s mom feels that Du Bois is somewhat reckless and encourages recklessness in Isaiah. Isaiah is a bit late to work, and Angel and Miss Ferris have made progress on the bike. Angel apologizes for saying Isaiah was like a white man. Isaiah apologizes for not helping Angel the day white boys destroyed her crutches. She says they should feel guilty, not Isaiah. Isaiah asks if he can kiss Angel, but she doesn’t feel ready.
Miss Ferris and Angel continue working on the bike while Isaiah goes to fetch Mr. Morris, who is going to make a new book crate for the bike. Mr. Morris tells Isaiah he should appreciate Angel and not take her for granted.
Chapter 27 Summary: “Angel”
Angel and Miss Ferris finish the bike, and Isaiah tries it out. It rides well. Angel and Isaiah walk home, holding hands. Angel tells Isaiah that her dad is dying. They see Muggy and Dorothy Mae waiting for them.
Chapter 28 Summary: “Isaiah”
Isaiah drops Angel’s hand upon seeing Muggy and Dorothy Mae, but then he takes it again. Isaiah repeatedly asks Muggy to step aside, but he won’t. Mrs. Tate comes out of her house and asks what the girls are doing with these boys. She sends them home, and they leave. Muggy laughs and claims Mrs. Tate’s son frequents brothels. Isaiah punches Muggy, and he hits the ground. Neighbors come outside to watch and gossip about how Isaiah gave Muggy what he had coming. Adults send Isaiah home.
Chapters 19-28 Analysis
In this section, Isaiah and Angel continue to be the only characters whose points of view are shown in narration. This narrative choice emphasizes their centrality as the novel’s protagonists and creates tension because, although they’re trying to improve their community and advance racial equality and justice, the reader knows that their community is going to be destroyed in a matter of days. This awareness does not diminish Isaiah and Angel’s efforts but actually makes them more meaningful because their desire to improve their community does not disappear once the buildings are burned down or some of the residents are killed.
This section further develops The Struggle for Justice and Equality. The writings of Washington and Du Bois, so often discussed by Angel and Isaiah, represent two different approaches that the Black community could take in the fight for justice and equality. Both young people are able to argue why they prefer one writer over another. Isaiah agrees with Du Bois’s more active and urgent approach to Black advancement and integration into American political and economic life. By contrast, Angel believes that Greenwood embodies Washington’s approach that Black communities could achieve progress when given opportunities for education and economic prosperity without white interference.
Dramatic irony comes into play because, while Angel and others celebrate how idyllic and prosperous Greenwood is and even hold the neighborhood up as an example of how right Washington was, the reader knows that Greenwood is going to be physically destroyed in a matter of days, with hundreds of deaths and most buildings burned. However, the reader also knows that, despite this roadblock and other roadblocks, progress toward justice and equality has continued to develop between 1921 and the present day. The author is able to illustrate Resilience in the Face of Racial Violence without even referencing the century’s worth of history that occurs between the end of the massacre and the present day because the reader already knows about it.
This section also further develops Love and Friendship During Turbulent Times. Far from being a distraction, love seems to transform Isaiah into a better person. Once he embraces his love for Angel, no longer seeking to hide or deny it, he decides to become kinder, more helpful, braver, and more honest. Isaiah’s commitment to these ideals is reflected in his actions, including when he stands up to Muggy when he disrespects their neighbor, Mrs. Tate. Because of these changes in Isaiah, others in the community start to trust him more, even within a matter of days. Besides creating suspense, the time and date stamps also show how quickly relationships (both romantic and otherwise) can develop and change. Isaiah gaining trust from community members may seem unrelated to the struggle for justice and equality, but actually, this trust comes in handy once the massacre is underway and allows Isaiah to help save additional lives.
This section also further develops Resilience in the Face of Racial Violence. As Angel and Isaiah are starting to learn, “progress” and “resilience” look different for each person, depending on their circumstances and the time and place they’re living in. For Booker T. Washington, who was born enslaved, progress and resilience did not look identical to W. E. B. Du Bois, who was born free. Likewise, progress and resilience for residents of Greenwood, which is more idyllic and prosperous than most Black communities at the time, is different from someone who lives in Angel’s grandmother’s more unequal neighborhood. Still, resilience, strength, and movement toward progress can be seen in all sorts of places and people, even Booker T. Washington, whom Isaiah previously regarded as anti-revolutionary.
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