Interac...

[24] At dinner, Daddy told us that he had been asking our neighbors what they know about living and working in places like California. He found out that last year President Franklin Roosevelt signed a special order. It said companies that manufacture equipment for the military cannot practice discrimination. That means they can't refuse to hire workers because of their race or ethnicity.

[25] Most factories that make those kinds of products are out west. You don't find them here in the South. That's why Uncle Eugene was able to get a factory job in California even though it's impossible for black people to get that kind of work here.

[26] I tried to picture what it might be like to live in a place where Negroes have more freedom. Where people like me could apply for any job they wanted. Maybe I didn't have to live on small farms all my life. Maybe one day, I could move somewhere else and do other kinds of work when I grow up.

[27] Harvest time is finally here, and our crop of cotton is ready to be picked. It's Monday, and we should have spent the day in school, but Mary, Buck, and I took today off to help Daddy and Mama on the farm. We spent all day in the field picking bolls, which are the thick, fluffy parts of cotton plants.

[28] We picked for hours and hours until our fingers ached. But, sadly, we didn't have much to show for it. Boll weevils had attacked our crop. These tiny bugs are pests that lay eggs in cotton plants. When the young insects hatch, they eat parts of the plant. Boll weevils are a problem every year. But this time, there were so many that most of the crop was ruined!

[29] At the end of the day as we walked back to the house, I saw Daddy give Mama a look. I knew they were thinking about all of the money that we owe Mr. Greenfield, and I knew we have no way to pay it.

[30] Tonight, as we sat down to dinner, I got the surprise of my life—we're moving! Daddy and Mama told us that we're leaving Mississippi and going to live in Los Angeles, California. Daddy wrote Uncle Eugene for his help finding work. We're going to sell our furniture and other things to pay some of the money we owe Mr. Greenfield—and to buy tickets for the long train trip out west.

[31] Daddy says we'll be able to live a better life in California, partly because factory workers there make much more money than sharecroppers do here. Also, Mama says there are no Jim Crow laws in California, so we'll have so much more freedom.

[32] I don't want to leave Eve and my other friends, though, because I may never see them again! Also, I have only ever lived in Mississippi; I've never even visited another state. What if I hate California? What if no one likes me and I can't make any friends?

[33] This morning, I stood with my family on the platform of the railroad station near our town. I had a train ticket tucked inside my journal, which I clutched tightly in my arm. I didn't want to take any chance that the ticket might slip through my fingers because we didn't have enough money to buy another one.

[34] Daddy, Mama, Mary, and Buck had their tickets, too, and we each had a small bag for our clothes and a few remaining belongings. We had sold most of what we owned, and it was strange to think that everything we had in the world now was what fit into those five bags.

[35] When a whistle sounded, I could see a train approaching the station. It blew a thick column of smoke as it rolled down the track, closer and closer to us. Other passengers began to crowd around. The train slowed to a stop, the doors opened, and we all climbed on board.

[36] Negro passengers had to sit in the Jim Crow car. It was separate from the rest of the train, where white passengers sat. We couldn't leave that one car, not even to go to the dining car to get a meal. Lucky for us, Mama had thought to pack food in brown paper bags for us to eat along the way. As the whistle sounded again, the train slowly pulled out of the station, and we were on our way to California!

[37] I'm trying to write, but the seats of the train are shaking as we speed down the track, so I'll keep this short. At New Orleans, we switched trains to board the Southern Pacific Railroad. We still have a long way to go, and it will take us a few more days to reach Los Angeles. Daddy says the entire trip is more than 2,000 miles!

[38] Looking out the window, I watch the countryside go by and see farm field after farm field. It reminds me of everything that we are leaving behind. I wonder what we will see when we arrive in California. We're from a tiny town in Mississippi, one with only a thousand people. But there are millions of people living in Los Angeles! Will such a big city ever feel like home?

[39] We arrived in Los Angeles this morning. As I stepped off the train, the first thing I noticed was the air. Mississippi is still hot this time of year. California is warm as well, but the air is not as thick and heavy as it is in the South.

[40] We took a bus from the station to Uncle Eugene's apartment building. Los Angeles looks really different from Mississippi. This is a big city with houses, offices, and other buildings spread out all over. Palm trees line the streets—I'd never seen a palm tree before—and the roads are packed with cars, buses, and trucks.

[41] Sitting on the bus, I wanted to cover my ears to block out all of the noise from the cars, buses, trucks, and their horns. It was so different from the quiet fields and dirt roads that I know from home. I sighed, realizing that getting used to this new place will take a while.

[42] Uncle Eugene helped Daddy and Mama both find jobs at the airplane factory, and they started today. They're working on assembly lines putting plane engines together, one part at a time. Mama told us that they would be making a lot more money than they did as sharecroppers.

[43] Uncle Eugene has been so good to us. He's letting us stay in his apartment and has been helping us look for a place of our own. Mama and Daddy think they found a place in an apartment building not far from where we are now. As soon as they pay the first month's rent and sign some papers, we'll be packing our things and moving in.

[44] Today was the first day at my new school, and it is such a big change from Mississippi! This elementary school is integrated, which means that white and black children attend together. We sit in the same classrooms, side by side, and no one thinks anything of it. I sit next to a white girl named Sally who reminds me a little of Eve. They both wear their hair in braided pigtails, just like me. I hope as Sally and I get to know each other, we can become friends, too.

[45] One great thing about my new school is that I have my own textbooks now, and I don't have to share with anyone. No more walking to and from school either. I take a bus now, and it's just a short ride. The next time it rains, I won't have to worry about getting soaked on the way home!

[46] I'm also getting used to the noise from the busy city streets. It doesn't bother me so much anymore, and California is beginning to feel like home.