Lester Mason is twenty years old and the future is his -- until he is denied a scholarship because of the color of his skin. He cries out, “Seems like the world ain’t nothing but a big white fog, and we can’t see no light nowhere.” The year is 1922, and racism is rampant in the United States of America. Despite the challenges, Lester’s father, Victor, has a dream. He is a Garveyite, and he wants to move his family to Africa, where his forebearers originated. Not everyone in his family, however, wants to leave America. Nonetheless, Victor persists, pursuing his dream with a single mindedness that, combined with the Great Depression and the racism of the time, drives his family to a tragic fate. With drama and poignancy, Theodore Ward’s Big White Fog challenges our preconceptions of what it means to live the American Dream.
Big White Fog guide sections
