Mulatto

Mulatto Summary | Act 1, Scene 1 Summary

The play begins on a fall afternoon in 1930s Georgia. The first two characters introduced are Colonel Thomas Norwood, a plantation owner who is about 60, and Cora Lewis, Norwood's housekeeper and mistress of thirty years; she is in her forties.

As the action opens, Norwood and Cora are discussing the imminent departure of Cora's (and Norwood's) daughter Sallie for school. Talk quickly turns to another child, their son Robert ("Bert"), and the fact that he has taken the car into town without permission. The Colonel makes it clear that he is angry at Bert's disobedience and will not tolerate such insolence from a "darkie" - especially his own child.

We are next introduced to Sam, an elderly black man who is a personal assistant to the Colonel. Sam asks if it would be acceptable to take Sallie's luggage out the front door to the car, as the back steps are difficult to maneuver. The Colonel refuses, and Sam slyly informs him that he has seen Bert using the front door. Before he can fully process this affront, however, Sallie comes in to say good-bye.

Sallie, 16, is shy, and has come to thank Norwood for his kind treatment of her and the other "colored children." She is careful not to acknowledge their true parentage. They discuss her schooling, and though Sallie wants to become a teacher, Norwood insists that she will be joining her sister to work at a hotel in Chicago. Talk turns to Bert, and Sallie tries to plead his case; Norwood becomes angry with her as well. Luckily, Bert pulls up outside and they leave for the airport.

As Sallie departs, Norwood's friend Fred Higgins arrives. Higgins is an elderly, traditionally Southern politician. He has come ostensibly to warn the Colonel of the growing resentment of the white community towards Bert. Higgins relates Bert's latest offense - demanding his money back at the post office after receiving a shipment of broken radio tubes. The real outrage was that Bert dared to argue with a white woman; Higgins says that Bert is also riling up the white townspeople by driving recklessly and acting as "good as a white [man]." He sends the Colonel over the edge by telling him that Bert has been telling everyone his last name is Norwood, not Lewis, and that he is half-white. Higgins chides the Colonel for keeping a black mistress in his home like a wife, and warns him that if Bert does indeed get arrested for his behavior, there is a good chance the white man might break into the jail and lynch him. The two men visit, talking politics and drinking.

After Higgins and Norwood leave, Cora enters again. Soon after, her son William comes in. He is the first-born son of Cora and the Colonel. Accompanying William is his young son Billy. Little Billy begins playing on the furniture, and makes an innocent comment that he knows the Colonel is his grandpa. Cora first blames William, then realizes blame lies with Bert. The two discuss that they are worried about Bert's headstrong ways, recalling an incident from the past. Once, when he was a young boy, Bert accidentally referred to Norwood as "papa" in front of the Colonel's rich white friends; the Colonel beat Bert mercilessly. Cora and William reflect that up until that point, Bert had been his father's favorite, but from then on, resentment had grown on both sides.

As they continue to worry that Bert will never "know his place," he enters. He and Cora and William stay on the subject of Bert's perceived arrogance. They try to explain that his behavior may end tragically for him and the rest of his family, but Bert dismisses their concerns. He has gone to school out of town, and has experienced more equal treatment in the big cities. He tells them the same tale of the radio tubes that Higgins told the Colonel earlier, but in this version, Bert is proud of and defends his actions.

He tries to justify his position; because he is half-white and Norwood's son, he doesn't believe he should have to work out in the fields like the other field hands. He then informs Cora that he is no longer going to work in the fields. They begin to argue again, with Cora telling him that he needs to understand that he is no longer living up North and that he needs to tone down his behavior. She then tells him that the Colonel wants to speak to him when he returns; she pleads with Bert to "[T]alk to him right."

Bert is indignant - he knows he is neither black nor white, and he looks just like Norwood. He refuses to run away out the back door when they hear the Colonel coming, even when Norwood comes in and orders him out that way. As the Act comes to an end, Robert walks proudly out the front door; the Colonel starts to follow him with a pistol, but Cora stops him, reminding him that Bert is their son.