This story by Toni Cade Bambara is about a wall in an inner city neighborhood in the Southern United States. The wall is special to the local community: old people sit in its shade; children play handball and other games against it. Two boys watch in dismay as a strange and seemingly rude woman from New York begins to paint some kind of mural on the wall. When the woman refuses their demands to stop, the boys make plans to sabotage her work. What she paints changes their mind. Themes include community, rash judgement, rudeness, tolerance, respect, remembrance.
Original Text / PDF / Audio (2,600 words)