Red River

The old brown fedora that becomes the funeral hat worn by the Tademy men started out as McCully’s voting hat. Throughout the book, it symbolizes hope in the promise of Reconstruction, which gave black men the right to vote (as well as other equal rights). McCully gives the hat an almost mythic backstory, telling Sam that the old feather on the hatband is a phoenix feather and “we gonna get stronger and stronger and rise from the ashes where we been” (32). He passes it to Sam, trusting in him to keep hope alive for the community, and Sam passes it down through the Tademy family. At every funeral, a Tademy wears the hat, keeping hope alive even in the face of tragedy. When Jackson finally gives it to Ted, he tells him: “whoever own this hat got to push forward and reach out for others not as strong, bring them along too” (408). Although the book ends before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is not hard to imagine that Ted will make sure the fedora becomes a voting hat once again, just like Sam always hoped.

Books are a symbol throughout the novel for a brighter future through education. In Part 1, Noby carries an old primer with him almost as a totem to keep him safe. Sam, the guardian of the primer and the one who dreams of starting a school, understands that education is the true way to keep the community safe, in that education will give the children the tools to fight for equal rights in courts, not on battlefields. He knows that the community needs “education, not bullets. That the only way we win” (95). Later, his son Jackson continues to collect books for his library even after his first school is burned, knowing that the future lies in education. He protects his books fiercely, carrying them out of the way of flood waters and making sure they are dusted regularly. When Ted later tells Jackson that he doesn’t want to go to college, Jackson refuses to accept this, saying, “[W]hen you grown, you choose what you want. We not talking about teaching yet. But you gonna be made ready for the test of life first” (382). Ted must get an education, no matter what he makes of his life.