The next day, while walking in the streets of Harlem, the narrator buys a hot buttered yam from a street vendor and eats it greedily. No longer feeling compelled to hide his identity as a Southern black by denying his love for certain foods, the narrator experiences a profound sense of freedom. Pondering the link between food and identity, he imagines exposing Dr. Bledsoe as “a shameless chitterling eater,” then runs back to the vendor and buys two more yams, but discovers that the last one is frostbitten.
Continuing on, the narrator comes upon the scene of an eviction. Two white men bring a chest of drawers out of a nearby apartment while a group of black men and women stand silently by and an old black woman tearfully calls the narrator’s attention to her helplessness and humiliation. Feeling uncomfortable, the narrator tries to blend into the crowd of bystanders. Oblivious to the pleas of her husband, who has appeared on the scene to comfort her, the woman loudly denounces the men who are literally tearing her home apart.
The narrator surveys their meager belongings, which represent a whole lifetime of struggle. Suddenly overwhelmed with emotion, he realizes that an old, yellowed piece of paper that has been trampled into the snow is the old man’s “freedom papers.” The narrator picks up the precious document and places it in the chest of drawers.
As the woman tries to go back into her house to pray, one of the white men tries to stop her and a scuffle ensues, during which the old woman falls and angry bystanders surge forward. Determined to stop the tension from erupting into violence, the narrator intercedes and pleads for the men to remain calm and to consider the consequences of their actions. Launching an emotional speech on dispossession, the narrator encourages them to return all the furnishings to the apartment and leads them into the old couple’s house to pray.
Meanwhile, the police arrive and accuse the narrator of interfering with the eviction, but a white girl helps him escape by suggesting that he run across the apartment rooftops. After narrowly escaping the police, the narrator encounters a man who introduces himself as Brother Jack. After telling the narrator how much he admired his speech at the eviction, Brother Jack invites the narrator to accompany him to a nearby diner. There, Brother Jack invites the narrator to join the Brotherhood. Skeptical, the narrator refuses and heads back to Mary’s, but he accepts a slip of paper containing Brother Jack’s name and address.
