Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes incidents of racial discrimination and violence present in the source text.

Tommie’s narration describes how, between 1910 and 1970, more than six million African Americans left the South, looking to leave behind Jim Crow, lynchings, segregation, the Ku Klux Klan, discrimination, and poverty. At first, many went to northern cities like Detroit, Chicago, New York, and Washington, DC, to take jobs in factories. Then, another wave of African Americans went to California, including Tommie’s family, who settled in Stratford. The novel depicts Tommie’s family living in a labor camp, sharing an outhouse and shower with other families. They still don’t own the land they work on.

One day, the bus taking Tommie, his family, and others from the labor camp to the fields is stopped by the head of the Stratford Elementary School. He asks if there are any school-aged children on board and then says that the children are required to exit the bus. At first, Tommie’s father is hesitant, but when he learns that children in California are required to go to school, he relents, telling his children that he’d be doing better in life if he had received an education.

The school is integrated, putting Tommie near white children his age for the first time. He starts to learn what racial bias is, noticing that white students are called on more than he is. After two years, his family pays off the debt to the property owners who paid for their move from Texas to California. They move several times before settling in a town called Lemoore.

Between second and fourth grade, Tommie has two experiences that shape what he would do with his life. The first occurs when his mother gives him a nickel to buy an ice cream at lunch. He is excited to eat until a white child slaps the ice cream out of his hand, calling him a derogatory name. To Tommie’s memory, this moment marks the first time he is directly insulted for being Black. He keeps calm in this instance. However, several years later, when the same child insults him, Tommie does beat him up—somehow, he never gets in trouble for it.

The second experience that shapes Tommie’s life happens when he is at Central Union school in Lemoore. Surrounded by other students whose parents worked at labor camps, he makes friends who speak Spanish or are Native American. In class one day, he spots his sister, Sally, outside of the classroom’s window, where she is in PE. She beats student after student in races before the coach sends her to get Tommie. He leaves class and races against both his sister and a white boy named Coy, the fastest boy in the seventh grade. Tommie is nervous, but the coach encourages him, and Tommie wins no problem; this race marks the first time he beats his sister. He feels proud, as he has always looked up to his sister.

Tommie respects the PE teacher, Mr. Focht, because he treats all students equally, including the Black students. When Tommie’s father considers moving to Fresno, Mr. Focht convinces him to stay by helping the family find a better house and getting Tommie’s dad a job as the school custodian. Tommie’s father lets Tommie join the track team as long as Tommie still works when he and his mother need him. However, his father adds that if Tommie ever finishes in anything other than first place, his track career is over, and he will need to come back to the fields.

In Mexico in 1968, Tommie feels a surge in his body, and he races ahead, leaving everyone behind.

In the past, his family doesn’t believe that Tommie could make a living by playing sports. Nonetheless, at Central Union, Tommie trains every day, and he wins his first track meet a few days after beating Coy and his sister. He also joins the basketball, baseball, and flag football teams. By eighth grade, he is one of the best basketball players in the area. His parents do not come to any of his competitions. However, his sister always cheers him on. That year, Tommie has a growth spurt, and he comes to believe that God gave him his talent.

In 1959, Tommie is 15, and many schools are interested in having Tommie play for them. His parents are still skeptical. Tommie continues to work hard in school, wanting to understand why white folks think less of him for being Black.

Tommie ultimately attends Lemoore High School. At first, he feels like he doesn’t belong. But when he joins the football and basketball teams, he breaks school and state records in both sports. He excels even more so on the track team.

Tommie receives scholarship offers to play sports, and he narrows his options down to San Jose State College (now San Jose State University). Two of his siblings lived near San Jose, and he could choose whichever sport he wanted to play. When he graduates, he feels his family’s pride, almost not believing it is his time to go.