Flyin' West

“I’ll have enough when I can step outside my door and spin around with my eyes closed and wherever I stop, as far as I can see, there’ll be nothing but land that belongs to me and my sisters.” 

To Sophie, her land is a place where she can be free. Miss Leah comments on her desire to accumulate more land, but Sophie isn’t hoarding property. She’s imagining her own country, where she can look in any direction and not see any place where she’s considered a lesser human for being Black. On her own land, Sophie and her family can feel safe.

“Ain’t nothin’ good to no white folks once a bunch of colored folks get set up on it!” 

Sophie is worried about white families wanting to move into Nicodemus, but Miss Leah points out that white people will consider a Black area to be beneath them. Of course, Sophie’s concerns are more about white speculators who will buy as much land as possible until Nicodemus becomes a predominantly white town.

“Ain’t nobody gonna give you the right to tell them when and how to sell their land. No point in ownin’ it if you can’t do what you want with it.” 

Part of the freedom that Sophie prizes on her own land is accepting that others also have the freedom to make choices that might conflict with her dreams. Miss Leah points out that not everyone will have the same priorities and that anyone who has different priorities isn’t going to vote to have their rights limited.