Crumbs From the Table of Joy

The American Dream is the promise that anyone, regardless of the circumstances of their birth, has equal access to success in the United States. It’s the promise that has drawn many immigrants to the country, and it’s integrally tied to capitalism, insisting that the only obstacle to success is hard work. Crumbs from the Table of Joy subverts the idea of the American Dream, highlighting how circumstances such as race, gender, and class affect one’s opportunities. Godfrey knows that as a Black man in 1950, the American Dream does not include him. He moves his family from the Jim Crow South to New York City, settling in the mostly white borough of Brooklyn, but he avoids unnecessary interactions with white people and expects his daughters to do the same. Despite the Peace Mission’s objective of radical desegregation, Godfrey is reluctant to let Ernestine and Ermina go to the apartment of the old white couple to earn money. He is also uncomfortable when Gerte asks for help on the train, noting his fear of winding up like one of the Scottsboro Boys, a group of Black teens who were falsely convicted of raping two white women. This explicit reference to this court case represents the disparity in safety and opportunity for Black people in the United States, situating them outside of the myth of the American Dream.

Although Godfrey expresses wariness about himself or his children trusting white people, he also allows himself to cross racial boundaries, emboldened by Father Divine’s teachings. He moves his family to Brooklyn, which is overwhelmingly white, even though Harlem is nearby, mistakenly believing that he is following Father Divine to the borough. Godfrey marries a white woman, the ultimate taboo in a racist society, presumably doing so at the Mission. Despite religious freedom being part of the American mythology and the north being desegregated, he is punished for violating American social norms; when they go out together, he is attacked by a group of white men. When Lily points out the significance of the image of a bleeding Black man with a white woman who is covered in blood but unhurt, Gerte demonstrates that she doesn’t understand what it means to be Black in the United States. She claims not to notice the Crumps’ skin color, but Lily and Ernestine are hyperaware of how they are marked as different. Gerte wants to believe that they can be raceless, at least within the walls of their apartment, but Ernestine and Lily know that this idea is naïve. This incident is a terrifying reminder of how far things have to go to achieve equality.

Godfrey works all night at a bakery to support his family, and his coworkers are all Black, suggesting that his work and the inconvenience of the overnight shift are undesirable conditions given to Black workers because white workers reject them. Black laborers like Godfrey are used to working for crumbs, but they are also afraid of being associated with the Communist Party and their fight for better conditions. When Ernestine’s essay about worker conditions is flagged as expressing communist beliefs, she edits it by making it more patriotic, showing how communism is incompatible with the American Dream mythology. However, the play asserts that these communist ideas get closer to actualizing the American Dream than capitalism, particularly for Black Americans.

Lily is another example of how Blackness interferes with the American Dream. Although it isn’t clear how much of her story is fabricated, she is intelligent and educated, and she had enough success at some point to purchase a designer suit. The country doesn’t change quickly enough for Lily to experience it, and she develops drug and alcohol addictions instead. Throughout the play, though, Ernestine is quietly preparing to graduate high school, a significant achievement as she will be the first graduate in the family. Soon after moving to Brooklyn, she experiences going to the movies and sitting between two white girls, all three weeping along together as equals—something that never would have been allowed under Jim Crow in Florida. This shows her that there is growth toward civil rights and equal access to the American Dream, even though it’s clear that there is a long way to go.