Jazz

When Henry returned home, he found Golden Gray and Honor, a boy he hired to care for his livestock, tending to a naked woman in the middle of childbirth. Henry realized that the woman had little societal interaction, and when he moved to adjust her blanket, she bit him on the cheek. Henry gave her the name “Wild.” After she gave birth to a baby boy, she would not look at the child or nurse it. Henry sent Honor to find someone to care for the baby.

Henry interrogated Golden to find out who he was. Golden told him that he was his son. Henry did not know that Vera had given birth to a child, and he revealed that the green dress Golden used to cover the woman belonged to Vera. Golden, who was now resolved to kill Henry, treated his father coldly. Henry accused Golden of only visiting to find out how Black his father’s skin was. Golden replied that he did not want to be Black. Henry told his son that he had a choice—he could continue to live as a white man, or he could be Black. If he chose the latter, he must stop acting like a child and begin acting like a man.