Ethiopia Symbol Analysis

Shortly after Melba and her family are overcharged and verbally intimidated by the grocer, Mr. Waylan, Grandma India places calls to her friends to discourage them from shopping at his store. She tries to get a group of them to patronize a shop “across town,” but none of them wants “to cause trouble.” In frustration, Grandma India reads aloud from her Bible the following passage: “And Ethiopia shall stretch forth her wings.” Grandma India uses the Scriptural passage to teach Melba that one day things will be different for black people. Though she might not see the changes, she explains assuredly that Melba’s lifetime will be different from hers. Melba is skeptical and “anxious,” worried that white people might always be in charge. Thus, Ethiopia becomes a symbol of black freedom and power. The Scriptural passage evokes an image of Ethiopia—historically, one of only two African nation that has never been colonized—as a bird longing to express its natural impulse to stretch its wings and take flight. Likewise, black people in 1950s America had a wish to be free—to attend school and to shop wherever they pleased, for example—without encountering abuse or intimidation.