Morrison begins the novel with a short prologue that focuses on change: the leveling of a black neighborhood — the Bottom, situated in the hills above the valley town of Medallion, Ohio — in order to create a golf course for white people. Years ago, in the 1920s, only white people lived in Medallion and only black people lived in the Bottom; now, the Bottom has become a suburb of the valley town, and the white people who formerly would never have set foot in the black community vastly outnumber their black counterparts.
The Bottom got its name from a cruel trick played on a black laborer by his white farmer boss, who promised the black man that if he'd do some difficult chores for him, he'd receive his freedom and some fertile "bottom land" as compensation. When the work was completed, the white farmer deceitfully told the black man that the bottom land he promised him was actually situated up in the hills overlooking Medallion, but that this particular piece of land was the best because from God's viewpoint it was the "bottom of heaven."
The black man gladly accepted the white farmer's explanation and the piece of land; however, it wasn't long before he realized that the steep, hilly bottom land was cursed with endless erosion and could be farmed only through backbreaking labor and toil.
