Harlem Shuffle: Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

Carney, Elizabeth, and May have dinner at the Jones house on Strivers’ Row. Leland, Carney’s father-in-law, has purchased an air conditioner, which revives Elizabeth. Her family home fills her with nostalgic happiness, despite her parents’ snide remarks about Carney. Carney reflects that plenty of crooks are strivers, and vice versa. Leland is a wealthy accountant known for taking bribes. At the table, Carney considers his dilemma with Chink Montague. He has been distracted at work, trying to imagine a scenario in which he and Freddie pacify the mobster without being killed or maimed.

Alma mentions that Alexander Oakes has been accepted into the Dumas, a Black social club to which Leland belongs. Alexander and Elizabeth grew up together, and Carney knows the well-to-do lawyer is in love with Elizabeth. Alma suggests Carney apply—an intentional insult, as his skin is too dark for admittance. Additionally, Carney’s profession is not influential enough for the Dumas members, who help one another out of trouble. Leland’s father was a preacher for Seneca Village, the largest pre-war community of free Black property-owners, whose land was seized to create Central Park. Alma comes from similar lineage, proud of her race to a point: she finds Carney and May’s skin too dark, and probably worries about the new baby’s color.

Although Elizabeth has no memory of attending high school with Carney, he is grateful she sees him now. They reconnected after college at a party, waiting in line for the bathroom. Carney’s business degree made him more confident. Elizabeth had just started working at the travel agency, which provides safe routes for Black people to travel in and out of the country. When Carney met Alma and Leland, he told them his father worked “[o]dd jobs” after his mother died, and how he lived with Aunt Millie and Freddie for a time. Over the years, Carney told them various stories about his rough upbringing, only to later realize that his in-laws view this as “entertainment, a vaudeville act.”

Now, Leland references one of Carney’s stories about the time he and his father split a single sweet potato on Christmas morning, before Carney’s father disappeared for a week. Carney, who once felt pride in the difficulties he has survived, pretends he doesn’t know what Leland is talking about. On the drive home, Carney resolves to give Arthur’s name to Montague, since he is holding the loot. Then he will warn Arthur to get out of town, keeping Freddie’s name out of everything. But when they arrive home, Freddie is waiting for him. After Elizabeth and May are inside, Freddie tells Carney that Arthur is dead.