One Friday Morning

“Nancy Lee sometimes forgot she was colored herself. She liked her classmates and her school.”

Born in the Deep South and proud of her African heritage, Nancy Lee nevertheless has so completely assimilated into her predominantly white high school that she feels accepted, part of the school’s life, an equal to her white peers. She hasn’t yet fully grappled with the disconnect between the promises of the American Dream and the reality of racism in her own life.

“That was the wonderful thing about true creation. You made something nobody else on earth could make—but you.”

Nancy Lee relishes how, as a painter, she can summon entire worlds into existence. Creation for her is power. That concept of the omnipotence of the artist reflects her confidence, her unexamined egotism. As such, this moment foreshadows the crushing epiphany three days later in Miss O’Shay’s office and the story’s thematic engagement with The Reality of Discrimination.

“Its charm was that everything was light and airy, happy like spring, with a lot of blue sky, paper-white clouds, and air showing through…in her mind the flag, the spring, and the woman formed a kind of triangle holding a dream Nancy Lee wanted to express.”

The story juxtaposes the world called into being by an artist and the world as it is in reality. In appraising her own award-winning watercolor, Nancy Lee admires the tidiness, the order, and the beauty of her park painting. Everything in harmony—a vision that within three days will be challenged by the world of racism, bigotry, and discrimination.

“She tried to smile, but instead tears came to her eyes.”

The news that she won the award overwhelms Nancy Lee. To this point she has been expressing her thoughts with no problem. In this moment when her fondest dream comes true, words fail her. These tears of joy anticipate the tears Nancy Lee will later shed when she understands the scholarship has been denied.

“Dreams began to dance through her head, plans and ambitions, beauties she would create for herself, her parents, and the Negro people—for Nancy Lee possessed a deep and reverent race pride.”

For the first time, Nancy Lee explicitly connects her scholarship award to her race. No Black student had ever won this award. And like all pioneers who breakthrough long-held biases, she feels her achievement extends to her people as well.

“Often hurt, discriminated against, sometimes lynched—but always there were the stars on the blue body of the flag. Was there any other flag in the world that had so many stars?”

Nancy Lee focuses her aspirational remarks that she wants to deliver when she accepts the scholarship on the artistic elements of the American flag itself, which Hughes uses as a motif throughout the story. The blue field intrigues her. For her those stars symbolize inextinguishable hope like the stars in the night sky—a belief that America will gift its best and brightest people with opportunity.

“When something is happening, something new and fine, something that will change your very life, it is hard to sleep at night for thinking about it, and hard to keep your heart from pounding.”

This scene represents a pivotal, if ironic, moment. Nancy Lee cannot sleep because of her excitement because her life has so suddenly changed. What she does not know yet is how completely her life will change, but not for the reasons she believes. Instead, her dreams are about to be shattered.

“‘I accept this award with gratitude and pride, not for myself alone, but for my race that believes in American opportunity and American fairness—and the bright stars in the flag.’”

The remarks that Nancy Lee rehearses and even memorizes represent the initial innocence of her perspective. Her affirmation of her genuine love of her country and her race are uncomplicated by irony. The remarks are like the park painting she crafts, an elegant testimony to an America as it should be, not what it is.

“To the brown girl there in the chair, the room grew suddenly smaller, smaller, and there was no air. She could not speak.”

This scene represents the nadir of the story—its darkest moment. As she struggles to understand why the scholarship and the dreams it made possible are gone, Nancy Lee cannot speak. Symbolically, she loses her voice.

“‘There have never been any Negro students at the local art school, and the presence of one there might create difficulties for all concerned. We have high regard for the quality for Nancy Lee Johnson’s talent, but we do not feel it would be fair to honor it with the Artist Club award.’”

The letter from the committee evidences both hypocrisy and doublespeak. For your own good, the committee says, we cannot give you the award you deserve. You would be the only Black student in the art school. Instead of seeing that as a transformative choice, they take back their award and resort to poorly-veiled racism.

“‘Nancy Lee, I am very sorry to have to give you this message.’”

Miss O’Shay, the gentle and wise assistant principal who must break the news to Nancy Lee, here encourages Nancy Lee’s ascent toward her saving epiphany. Miss O’Shay is embarrassed by the committee’s decision and vows to raise objections. Miss O’Shay embodies the concept of allyship—a white citizen working alongside the Black community to end racism.

“‘We still have in this world of ours, democracy to make. You and I, Nancy Lee.’”

Miss O’Shay’s call to action helps Nancy Lee keep from surrendering to self-pity or despair. Her vision that democracy is a process not a product, imperfect but evolutionary, gives a Nancy Lee the encouragement she needs to keep going, reinforcing the story’s thematic interest in The Resilience of the Human Spirit.

“‘This won’t keep me down. But when I’m a woman, I’ll fight to see that these things don’t happen to other girls as this has happened to me.’”

Nancy Lee acknowledges what she learns—it is not enough to dream only for herself, emphasizing The Importance of Activism. She will be what the committee faults her for being: a Black American artist. She will fight to make sure hypocrisy and intolerance never impacts another young, promising African American student.