Sam Thomas Character Analysis in Blues for an Alabama Sky

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:

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.

Related Characters: Delia Patterson (speaker), Angel Allen (speaker), Sam Thomas (speaker)

Related Symbols: The Blues

Page Number and Citation: 29

Explanation and Analysis:

When Sam, exhausted after a long week of work, finds Angel anxious and restless in Guy’s apartment, he suggests that she soothe both their spirits by singing the blues. Blues music, as a musical expression of pain, can serve as a cathartic release for both the singer and the audience. Angel’s singing emboldens the shy Delia to dance in front of Sam, whom she doesn’t know well, and even after she stops dancing Delia is prepared to defend the family-planning clinic to Sam. This intimate moment paves the way for Delia and Sam’s future romance. Angel’s assertion that “all revolutions Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. V

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.

Related Characters: Sam Thomas (speaker), Delia Patterson (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 47

Explanation and Analysis:

After Sam falls asleep in the middle of a discussion about the clinic, Delia recommends he try spending his few hours away from work resting rather than at parties and nightclubs. Sam vehemently rejects this suggestion because dancing and enjoying music revitalizes him after long and depressing hours as a doctor. Not only does nightlife help Sam’s individual soul, but it also connects him to the Harlem community. He spends most of his time viewing the residents of Harlem as patients, but going out among those people and celebrating art and culture with them reminds him that “we,” the community, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nes

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!

Related Characters: Sam Thomas (speaker), Delia Patterson (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 47–48

Explanation and Analysis:

Sam and Delia discuss the family planning clinic Delia is working with Margaret Sanger to establish in Harlem, and Sam gives Delia insight into the misgivings that many residents of Harlem share about the clinic. The people of Harlem see their children as the future of not only their community but of Black Americans more broadly, and they are suspicious of Margaret Sanger, a White woman who seems to be attempting to destroy that future by preventing the births of Black children. Their distrust of Sanger is based on the violent history of forced sterilization in America. Forced sterilization was Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum acc

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?

Related Characters: Angel Allen (speaker), Guy Jacobs (speaker), Delia Patterson (speaker), Sam Thomas (speaker), Leland Cunningham

Page Number and Citation: 71–42

Explanation and Analysis:

Guy loves Angel, and the way that love manifests is an impulse to support Angel when she is struggling. Angel, on the other hand, sees Guy as the same as the other men in her life who want to undermine her agency by protecting and providing for her. Unlike those men, though, Guy cannot fulfill her romantic and sexual needs. Guy would be happy to spend the rest of his life with Angel, but Angel wants more from a partner than platonic love. That desire, combined with her newly shaken faith in herself, drives her to commit to her relationship Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolo

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.

Related Characters: Angel Allen (speaker), Sam Thomas (speaker), Leland Cunningham, Guy Jacobs, Josephine Baker

Page Number and Citation: 93

Explanation and Analysis:

Angel has resigned herself to a life as Leland’s wife and the mother to his children, but that changes when Guy confirms his position working for Josephine Baker in Paris and invites Angel to join him. She regarded his plans to move to Paris as a fantasy, but that fantasy has become reality, and now Angel has a path before her that she much prefers to settling down with Leland. In addition to providing her an escape from a marriage she doesn’t want, the fact that Guy’s dreams are coming true restores Angel’s hope in her own dreams coming true Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a de

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.

...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.... (full context)

Sam arrives, having just delivered twins, and Angel remarks that Harlem doesn’t need two more mouths... (full context)

Sam asks Angel to sing the blues, and she does. Delia returns, and Angel dances with... (full context)

Delia declines the invitation to the party because Sam is coming over, and she is surprised when Angel mentions that Sam has feelings for... (full context)

...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... (full context)

Sam tells Delia about the Black community of Harlem’s resistance to the clinic. Many people view... (full context)

...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... (full context)

Sam and Delia return triumphant from a successful meeting with the deacon. Guy invites the pair... (full context)

Sam and Delia arrive and discuss with Guy the logistics of sending the costumes to Josephine... (full context)

...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... (full context)

Sam goes to Delia’s apartment, and they discuss the messiness of love. They both admit they’ve... (full context)

Two weeks later, Sam meets with Angel to let her know the results of her recent pregnancy test: she... (full context)

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... (full context)

In private, Angel asks Sam to perform the abortion, which he has done for her once before. Sam is reluctant,... (full context)

Leland leaves the apartment and confronts Sam. As Sam starts to walk away, Leland takes out his gun and shoots him. (full context)

...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... (full context)

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... (full context)

Sam Thomas Character Analysis

Sam Thomas Quotes in Blues for an Alabama Sky

Act 1, Scene 2 Quotes

Act 1, Scene 3 Quotes

Act 2, Scene 1 Quotes

Act 2, Scene 3 Quotes

Sam Thomas Character Timeline in Blues for an Alabama Sky