Mumbo Jumbo

Woodrow Wilson Jefferson (W.W.) has decided to give up farming and move to New York. In the 1850s, W.W.’s grandfather and his slave master traveled to New York and brought back the works of Marx and Engels, as well as old issues of the New-York Tribune. These works remained in the attic, and W.W. eventually read them. He appreciates their objective and scientific styles, which contradict the mystical beliefs in the area surrounding his farm. He goes to the depot and awaits the train, determined to leave the South and make something of himself in New York.

At the anti-lynching party, guests are elegantly dressed. LaBas and Earline navigate through the party’s social circles and then run into Berbelang, who is talking with Thor Wintergreen, a young white man from a rich family. Earline and LaBas attempt to engage Berbelang but he says he must leave immediately and has no time to explain. Earline is heartbroken by his departure and tells LaBas that she is going home to wait for him.

After Earline leaves, LaBas recognizes the accomplished occultist Black Herman, who is playing solitaire with Abdul Hamid, the well-known magazine editor. They listen to a news radio report that describes the rapid spread of