Song of Solomon 801own wings.” Smith’s flight draws a crowd to Not
Doctor Street, which is the unofficial name of the
street where “the only colored doctor in the city had
lived and died.” As Morrison explains how the street
came to be called Not Doctor Street, she also draws
the physical line that separates the city’s African-
American population from the white population.
When the doctor moved to the street in 1896, he
was the only Negro on the street. His patients, who
were predominantly Negroes, did not live on or near
the street, which they began to call Doctor Street.
As time progressed and the town’s Negro population
continued to refer to the street as Doctor Street, the
city legislators attempted to force the black commu-
nity to refer to the street as Mains Avenue.
Some of the city legislators, whose concern
for appropriate names and the maintenance
of the city’s landmarks was the principal part
of their political life, saw to it that “Doctor
Street” was never used in any official capac-
ity. And since they knew that only Southside
residents kept it up, they had notices posted
in the stores, barbershops, and restaurants in
that part of the city saying that the avenue . . .
had always been and would always be known
as Mains Avenue and not Doctor Street.It was after this that the Southside residents began
to refer it as Not Doctor Street. The idea that
Negroes did not originally live on or near Doctor
Street and were later confined to the “Southside,”
indicates the physical barriers of racial segregation
between blacks and whites.
The physical segregation was not limited to
where one lived, but extended to where people were
able to obtain public services, including health care.
In 1931, Robert Smith drew the crowd to Mercy
Hospital on Not Doctor Street, and as a result “the
first colored expectant mother was allowed to give
birth inside its wards and not on its steps.”
This incident was quite possibly a forced inte-
gration, being that the woman went into labor while
standing outside the hospital witnessing Mr. Smith’s
flight. Until that time, neither the Negro doctor nor
any of his patients, aside from two, both white, were
granted privileges or admitted at Mercy.
Stories of interracial segregation are not uncom-
mon; yet, Morrison moves beyond the external
complications of race to the internal or intraracial
effects of race and racism upon the African-Amer-
ican community. As a consequence of colonialism
and interracial racism, many in the black com-
munity internalize this racism and inflict it upon
one another. In Song of Solomon, the internalization
of prejudice is expressed in terms of the internal
thoughts of African-American characters and in
their actions toward African-American characters.
Macon Dead II, the richest black man in town,
is a materialistic, “colored man of property” whose
chief interest is obtaining money and land. He
is ashamed of his sister, Pilate, and her daughter
and granddaughter, all of whom essentially reject
the idea of materialism that he values. In a lone
instance when Pilate visits Macon’s house, his
internalization of Eurocentric ideals is apparent
by his thoughts. “He trembled with thought of the
white men in the bank—the men who helped him
buy and mortgage houses—discovering that this
raggedy bootlegger was his sister.” Rather than
concern himself with his relationship with his
sister, Macon Dead is more concerned with and
even fearful of what “white men” might think. This
is indicative of the mental barrier that is a conse-
quence of racism.
Intraracial racism and internalized Eurocen-
trism is also presented in terms of how African
Americans regard themselves and other African
Americans. Mrs. Bains, one of Macon Dead II’s
tenants, says, “A nigger in business is a terrible
thing to see. A terrible, terrible thing to see.” Mrs.
Bains says this after an encounter with Macon
Dead II. She degrades an African American by
referring to him as a “nigger,” while implying that
African Americans should not be business owners.
This indicates her internalization of the notion of
African-American inferiority.
Race is a prevalent theme throughout Song of
Solomon, and there are several instances in which
Morrison depicts the negative and lasting effects of
racism on the African-American community. Racist
notions uphold physical and mental barriers both
externally and internally.
ShaShonda Porter