The Office of Historical Corrections

Content Warning: This story discusses both overt and covert racism, racist violence, gun violence, and murder, and uses a racial expletive. This study guide quotes and obscures the author’s use of the n-word.

Cassie works for the Institute for Public History (IPH) in Washington, DC, a government organization dedicated to protecting historical records. A field agent, she spends most of her days correcting historical inaccuracies on plaques and monuments throughout the city, using official stickers with her agency’s seal.

One day, she enters a bakery to buy a cake for Daniel, a man she is “kind of” dating. She sees a sign on the counter advertising Juneteenth cakes, which wrongly claim that Juneteenth is the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. The worker behind the counter is Black, but Cassie reflects that the owner is likely white, given her lack of understanding that very few people buy expensive cakes for Juneteenth. She informs the worker and the white woman next to her of the correction she is making to the sign. She prints an official sticker and affixes it to the sign, but both women are dismissive. Instead, they are concerned with whether she is buying a cake.