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Delia Patterson
Sam Thomas is a doctor at Harlem Hospital who most often works delivering babies for the women of Harlem. His status as a Black doctor makes him a pillar of Harlem’s Black community, and his work in obstetrics gives him insight into the general Harlem population’s reaction to Delia’s work in family planning and birth control. He helps Delia develop arguments to increase support for her clinic, and over time, Sam and Delia begin a romantic relationship. Though Sam is constantly exhausted from his work at the hospital, he chooses to rest not by staying home but by spending as much time as he can out on the town. He loves jazz music and parties, which he regards as reminders that life is worth living. In addition to delivering babies, Sam also performs abortions, which are illegal in the time in which the play is set. He initially balks at Angel’s request for an abortion, but he gives in after Angel accuses him of only performing abortions for women so desperate that Sam can feel like a savior for helping them. Ultimately, his decision to help Angel dooms him, when Leland kills Sam as revenge for what Leland perceives as the murder of Leland’s unborn child.
Sam Thomas Quotes in Blues for an Alabama Sky
The Blues for an Alabama Sky quotes below are all either spoken by Sam Thomas or refer to Sam Thomas. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 1, Scene 2 Quotes
ANGEL sings her way over to DELIA and begins dancing with her as she sings. DELIA is shy, but delighted. SAM watches them affectionately.
SAM. I didn’t realize your revolution left a space for dancing.
ANGEL (still dancing). All revolutions leave a space for dancing. They just like to pretend they don’t.
DELIA stops dancing.
DELIA (defensive). I’m not trying to make a revolution. I’m just trying to give women in Harlem the chance to plan their families.
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Act 1, Scene 3 Quotes
DELIA. Maybe you should cut back on your nightlife.
SAM. That’s the one thing I should not do.
DELIA. And why is that?
SAM. Because it helps me remember that we’re not just a bunch of premature labors and gunshot wounds. In a choice between a couple of hours’ sleep and a couple of hours of Fats Waller, I’d have to let the good times roll!
DELIA: Don’t you ever stop teasing?
SAM. I don’t want to work so hard on the body I forget about the soul.
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SAM (gently). I deliver babies every day to exhausted women and stone-broke men, but they never ask me about birth control. They ask me about jobs.
DELIA. What does that mean?
SAM. It means we still see our best hope in the faces of our children and it’s going to take more than some rich white women playing missionary in Harlem to convince these Negroes otherwise.
DELIA (angrily). Why can’t we take help wherever we can find it?
SAM. Because it’s more complicated than that. The Garveyites are already charging genocide and the clinic isn’t even open. […] And they’re not the only ones who feel that way. What does family planning mean to the average colored man? White women teaching colored women how to stop having children.
DELIA. A woman shouldn’t have to make a baby every time she makes love!
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Act 2, Scene 1 Quotes
GUY. I’m sewing for whatever clubs are left in Harlem and I got two weddings coming up if all else fails. We’ll make it, Angel. I promise.
ANGEL. You’re a hell of a provider, Big Daddy.
GUY. You wouldn’t dismiss it all so fast if I was a straight man offering to take you to Paris.
ANGEL. But you’re not that, are you?
SAM and Delia arrive.
[…]
GUY. Angel and I have been fighting about my effectiveness as a provider.
SAM. A provider of what?
ANGEL. Let’s talk about something else.
DELIA. Is Leland coming?
ANGEL. Any minute now.
SAM. Should I be asking about this Negro’s intentions?
GUY. Maybe you should ask him if he’s a good provider.
SAM. He seems to be an honest, hard-working man. You can’t hardly ask for more than that, can you?
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Act 2, Scene 3 Quotes
ANGEL. I don't want to have this baby, Sam.
A beat.
SAM. What about Leland?
ANGEL. What about him? (A beat.) I don’t know. I just know I’m going to Paris. Guy booked passage for me and we sail next Friday.
SAM. Did you tell him about the baby?
ANGEL. Of course I told him. He was surprised at first, maybe a little mad at me. He sounded like you. ‘What about Leland? What about Leland?’ What about me?
SAM. This will kill him, Angel.
ANGEL. No, it won’t! He’ll live through it just fine. And so will I. (A beat.) This is my chance to live free, Doc, and I’m taking it.
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Sam Thomas Character Timeline in Blues for an Alabama Sky
The timeline below shows where the character Sam Thomas appears in Blues for an Alabama Sky. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1, Scene 2
...Leland, whom Guy describes as “a real Southern gentleman.” He also mentions that they saw Sam, a Black doctor at the Harlem Hospital, who will be stopping by the apartment soon....
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Sam arrives, having just delivered twins, and Angel remarks that Harlem doesn’t need two more mouths...
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Sam asks Angel to sing the blues, and she does. Delia returns, and Angel dances with...
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Act 1, Scene 3
Delia declines the invitation to the party because Sam is coming over, and she is surprised when Angel mentions that Sam has feelings for...
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...returns to Guy’s apartment, where she and Guy prepare for the party. Eventually, they depart. Sam arrives to help Delia prepare to meet with the deacon about the clinic. He is...
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Sam tells Delia about the Black community of Harlem’s resistance to the clinic. Many people view...
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Act 1, Scene 4
...a gay couple they are friends with. He updates her on the deacon’s meeting, which Sam attended alongside Delia for moral support. Angel stresses about going out with Leland. She recalls...
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Sam and Delia return triumphant from a successful meeting with the deacon. Guy invites the pair...
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Act 2, Scene 1
Sam and Delia arrive and discuss with Guy the logistics of sending the costumes to Josephine...
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...is appalled and calls homosexuality an abomination. Guy orders him to leave the apartment, and Sam goes after Leland to talk to him. Delia goes home. Angel argues with Guy, frustrated...
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Sam goes to Delia’s apartment, and they discuss the messiness of love. They both admit they’ve...
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Act 2, Scene 2
Two weeks later, Sam meets with Angel to let her know the results of her recent pregnancy test: she...
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Act 2, Scene 3
The next day, Delia is fretting in her apartment with Sam. Someone burned down the clinic before it could open, and now Delia worries Margaret Sanger...
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In private, Angel asks Sam to perform the abortion, which he has done for her once before. Sam is reluctant,...
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Act 2, Scene 4
Leland leaves the apartment and confronts Sam. As Sam starts to walk away, Leland takes out his gun and shoots him.
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Act 2, Scene 5
...back to retrieve her belongings from the apartment. Delia shows Guy the newspaper headline about Sam, which describes him as an illegal abortionist and makes his murder sound “tawdry.” She has...
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Delia wants to go to Paris, but she is nervous. Guy asks her what Sam would think, and she knows that Sam, who was always in search of a good...
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