White Lilacs

White Lilacs by Carolyn Meyer is a middle grade historical fiction novel first published in 1993. It tells the story of Rose Lee, a young Black girl living in Dillon, Texas, in 1921. When the white citizens of Dillon vote to force the Black community out of their homes to turn the area into a city park, Rose Lee and her family battle against racism, violence, and injustice as they search for options.

Meyer is the author of over 25 novels and is best known for her Young Royals series, which explores the lives of famous historical women of royalty. As she writes in the Author’s Note at the conclusion of White Lilacs, she based this novel on her research of Quakertown, a site within Denton, Texas, which was home to 58 families before it was destroyed to create a city park (239-40). Like much of her work, she started with historical facts to then create fictional characters and events, exploring themes of The Impact of Racial Injustice, The Dynamics of Power and Control, and The Importance of Recording History.

This guide uses the 2007 Harcourt paperback edition of the novel.

Content Warning: The novel contains racist language, including racial expletives, and depicts racial violence. Some of that language is replicated in this guide when directly quoting the source text, but the author’s use of racial expletives is obscured.

Plot Summary

In 1921, 12-year-old Rose Lee Jefferson lives in Freedomtown, a part of Dillon, Texas, where most of the local Black community lives. Her father, Poppa, runs a barbershop out of their home, while her mother, Momma, does laundry for many white families. Her grandfather, Jim, and her aunt Tillie work for the Bell family, working in their garden and caring for their house. Although Rose Lee normally works in the garden with her grandfather, when her cousin becomes pregnant, she begins helping her Aunt Tillie inside the Bell home as a maid.

One day, while serving lunch to Mrs. Bell’s Garden Club, she overhears the women talking about a plan to remove the Black people from Freedom. Their hope is to raze Freedom and put in a city park and other recreational areas. Rose Lee rushes home to tell her father and the other Black men who are in her father’s barbershop.

The men of Freedom decide that there is not much they can do to stop the white community from kicking them off their land. They decide to write a letter asking for a fair price for their land while they consider their other options. Rose Lee’s 21-year-old brother, Henry, responds with anger, insisting that they need to fight back or make a plan to return to Africa—following the advice he has learned listening to Marcus Garvey. The men dismiss him, warning him that he needs to be careful what he says.

Over the next weeks, Rose Lee continues to work in the Bell home and tries to gather information about their plans for Freedom. She learns that there is going to be a vote on the fifth of July—one month away—which will allow the white community to free up funds to buy the homes of the Black families. She rekindles her friendship with Catherine Jane Bell, a girl a couple years older than her with whom she used to sneak into the house to play when they were little. She also meets Emily Firth, a schoolteacher from up north, who sketches Rose Lee and her grandfather working in the garden. Rose Lee shows Miss Firth her own sketches, and Miss Worth encourages Rose Lee to continue to draw.

When Juneteenth comes, the Black community celebrates with a gathering in the church and a picnic. They are joined by Aunt Susannah—Poppa’s sister, a schoolteacher visiting from St. Louis. During the pastor’s speech, Henry comes forward and tries to convince the town that they need to fight back, but he is dismissed by his father. Then, at the picnic, Aunt Susannah speaks to the community, telling them that, no matter what they decide to do, they need to discuss it and stick together as a community.

That night, Rose Lee is woken by the sound of marching. As she looks out her window, she sees hundreds of Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members marching by. Her family goes into the lawn and watches as the men stand outside their church, plant a giant cross in the ground, and light it on fire.

Several members of Freedom decide to leave, joining their families elsewhere or moving to the North. During the Fourth of July celebration, Rose Lee watches as Mayor Dixon and Dr. Thompson—who is in charge of the girls’ school in Dillon—speak to the crowd about how important it is that they vote in favor of their proposition. The men are interrupted by Miss Firth, who attempts to speak to the crowd about how the Black community will be affected, but she is quickly taken off the stage. That night, Rose Lee wakes up to use the privy but sees someone walking up the street, covered in white. She realizes that it is Henry, who was caught talking about his plan to fight back and was tarred and feathered by white boys for it. All through the night and the next morning, Momma cares for him, slowly removing the tar and working with Freedom’s doctor to heal his skin.

After the vote passes and the residents of Freedom are certain they will lose their homes, they become convinced there is nothing they can do. Prominent members of the community—like the mortician and the town’s only doctor—leave, as well as Aunt Tillie’s daughter, Cora, and her husband.

Shortly after the Fourth, Rose Lee goes to Miss Firth, who gives her a sketchbook and pencils. She asks Rose Lee to document the town of Freedom, drawing all the buildings as a way for it to be remembered after it is gone.

As the wealthier citizens of Freedom are given very little money for their property, everyone realizes that they will not have enough money to completely rebuild. Instead, they look elsewhere in Dillon. However, when a few of them begin to purchase land, the white community retaliates; they post letters on the homes and businesses in Freedom, threatening the Black community to sell the new land they bought. When most of the town goes to City Hall to learn how much they will be paid for their property, they are met with a petition, instructing them that the only place they are allowed to move is The Flats—an area near a cesspool which floods constantly, with bad land and few trees.

Rose Lee dedicates her time to sketching as much of Freedom as she can. The members of the community support her, offering her drinks and gifts for her family as she works, and even requesting copies of the drawings for themselves.

Now that their community has shrunk, Poppa struggles to get enough people to keep his barbershop open. Eventually, he closes it, instead going to work as a janitor at the white school. Due to his injuries, Henry is unable to find work, and eventually ends up working for the Bells with his grandpa in the garden. Momma also struggles to travel to do the white families’ laundry, now that they are further from Dillon, so Rose Lee devotes her time with her uncle to driving around and doing pickups and deliveries.

One night, Poppa comes home from work, angry after hearing rumors that Henry was refusing to do work for the Bells’ son, Edward. That night, Rose Lee wakes up to Henry and her father arguing, and they eventually decide that Henry needs to pack and be ready to flee to Topeka in case Edward comes looking for him.

The next morning, Rose Lee sneaks to the Bell house. She goes into Catherine Jane’s room and asks her for help driving Henry out of town—and she willingly agrees. They struggle to convince Rose Lee’s parents and Henry to go along with the plan, until a neighbor informs them that Edward and his friends are coming for Henry. As Henry leaves, Rose Lee gives him her sketchbook, and he promises to come back safe with it.

In the spring, Grandpa falls ill, and Rose Lee is unable to convince the white doctor to come help him. He dies, and in his last moments, makes Rose Lee promise to care for his white lilacs. Rose Lee spends the next several years caring for the white lilac bush, even taking it with her when she leaves The Flats to start a family. However, she is never able to get it to bloom the same again.