Take My Hand

When they get to the hearing, photographers rush them. They push through, but Erica cries when they get inside the building. At the hearing, Civil notices that they are the only brown faces there.

Lou testifies first, and the longer he testifies, the more he gains confidence. Lou testifies to the government coercion the family has faced, and how they are expected to follow the rules without question. He points out that this sterilization practice is race- and class-based. His presentation is powerful. Mace is interviewed next, then, Mrs. Williams. They both testify that Mrs. Seager misled them the day she took the girls, and they both say they will never go back to the clinic.

A few days after the hearing, Civil and her parents hear that Lou has dropped the case. He does not answer his phone when Civil calls, so she drives to his office. He tells her he has not really dropped the case, but the case is bigger than just the Montgomery clinic.

He tells her that poor women of color have been coerced into sterilization all over the country by doctors holding government benefits over their heads. Civil wonders if they are trying to kill Black folks off, comparing the situation to the holocaust. Lou tells her the girls will still be named in the lawsuit, but now they are suing the federal government—the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) and the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO).

Civil tells Lou she fears for the girls’ safety, remembering the young people killed in the civil rights movement. Lou ends the conversation and tells Civil to keep reporters away from the girls. Mrs. Seager was fired or resigned, and Civil should go back to work at the clinic. She says she will never go back.

A week later, Civil meets with Ty, and she tells him about the changes in the lawsuit. He pulls out magazine and newspaper clippings, showing her how widespread the coverage of the case is. Ty changes the subject and says they need to talk about “the baby,” and she refuses to use the word baby, saying she was barely pregnant. She wishes she could talk to him, but she is hurting too much to face the issue.

Ty has set up a meeting for Civil to meet with the nurses from the clinic at the first integrated restaurant in the city, run by The Singhs, an Indian couple. Their restaurant is welcoming, and the owners’ family is interracial.

All the nurses show up, and Civil invites Val, the nurse who was with Mrs. Seager when the girls were taken, to sit with her at the head of the table. The nurses are suspicious and angry, but they are sorry for what happened and name a lot of the cases they have seen. Val cries as she conveys her regret at being a part of it. Civil says the case is about government coercion.

The nurses regret their complicity, but one nurse says Civil is exempt because she helped the family. Civil disagrees, saying: “I am part of the problem. I was in their lives making decisions that weren’t mine to make. Sure, I had good intentions, but so did Mrs. Seager. We all did” (231).

She asks the nurses to gather information on other cases around the state, saying this will help make things right. The nurses reluctantly agree, then begin talking about ways they can help. At the end of the meeting, Val asks to lead them in prayer, and as they pray, Civil realizes they are united in their shared grief and desire for justice.

The press descends on Montgomery. At church, the pastor comments on letting God fight their battles, and members wonder if Civil will make money on the lawsuit. One church member comments that the “white lawyer” will probably take all the money. Civil’s mother asks Civil about it, and she explains Lou is trying to change the law, not get a monetary settlement; the family can do that later.

Civil is aware she’s being followed, and she drives slowly so “the police wouldn’t have a reason to harass” her (236). When she and Ty meet at Lou’s office to tell him the nurses agreed to help, Lou tell them they did not get a sympathetic judge. Aware that law enforcement and the government are rarely friendly to Black people, Civil wonders if the case has attracted the attention of the FBI.

Eugenics comes up as they talk about civil rights cases, and Civil understands that eugenics is likely why Mrs. Seager went after India, who is “poor, Black, and mentally unfit” (238). Lou tells them that in 1927, it was legal for the government to sterilize people who were deemed unfit, and Alabama had mandated that every person in an insane asylum be sterilized.

Civil asks to help with the case, and Lou says he has all the support he needs. He adds that after this case, they can focus on compensating the girls monetarily, and it is possible the girls will never worry about money again. Present-day Civil notes that Lou, while very good at his job, was just as naïve then as they all were.

At the playground near the Williamses’ apartment, Mace tells Civil he does not know what to say when reporters approach him. Civil asks whether he wishes they never filed the lawsuit or “stirred up all this trouble” (242). Mace says he only wishes it hadn’t happened and wonders what he did wrong. He wonders whether things would have different if the girls had a mother.

He realizes his words hurt Civil, and he apologizes and reaches out for her. She tries to keep some distance and tells him she has seen a picture of Constance, the girls’ mother. He is angry at Civil’s reference to his late wife, but when she offers to leave, he says he wants her to stay and that he has feelings for her. She feels the attraction too, but she walks away, knowing he is watching her.

A few days later the nurses from the clinic call Civil to an urgent meeting. The nurses tell her that over the past three years, 11 girls were sterilized just at their clinic. Civil is horrified. She says they have work to do; they must “save them all” (246).

Civil is having lunch with Lou, and he tells her Mrs. Seager has died. Civil had not intended to visit her Mrs. Seager, but now she decides to visit her family.

Mrs. Seager’s daughter, Eugenia, lives in Montgomery and works at a nearby hospital, so Civil goes to see her. Civil wonders if she know about her mother’s past and feels like she should tell her about the case. At the hospital, Civil recognizes Eugenia immediately because she looks like her mother, but Civil hesitates before approaching her. When she does, Eugenia’s face drops, and Civil knows Eugenia knows what happened to the girls. Eugenia tells Civil she has wanted to talk to her for years and asks if they can meet after work. Civil agrees.

They meet in the hospital’s cafeteria. Eugenia asks about Civil’s life, and says she is not surprised Civil is an OB-GYN. Then Eugenia asks about the Williams sisters. Civil tells her India has cancer, and she is on her way to visit her.

Then Eugenia talks about her mother and what she did. She explains that Mrs. Seager was just trying to do the right thing and that she was not a racist. Then she asks Civil if she would forgive her mother because she was a “nice lady to Blacks” (251). Eugenia begs Civil to assure her that her mother was not a racist, but Civil does not respond. However, Civil knows how Eugenia feels: “As much guilt as I have carried over the years, I know, […] that my pain does not rival what Linda Seager inflicted upon her own family” (251).

Civil is at the beach with the girls and Mace. She did not really invite Mace, but he came along with his fishing pole. She thinks she must have anticipated him coming along because she carefully chose her swimsuit for the day. The girls do not have suits, but they play in the water in their shorts.

Erica tells Civil that her mother spelled her name with a “k,” and Civil offers to help her change it back. Erica says no, and Mace says no, and she realizes she is not there to fix them.

She sits with Mace and watches the girls play in the water, remembering when her father introduced her to the ocean. She tells Mace the beach used to be a “colored” beach until “white folks closed it all down” (255), and now the beach belongs to the government. Civil wants to tell him more about her childhood and family, but she realizes it might be hard for him to hear about her privilege.

Mace asks her if she thinks it is too late for him to learn to read. Surprised, she says it is not too late, and there are many places and people who could teach him. He tells her he wants her to teach him, and when she hesitates, Mace says to forget it, getting up and joining the girls in the water. She thinks about the possibility of teaching him to read, and, as she watches him take his shirt off, she reprimands herself for leaving her clothes on over her swimsuit.

As Civil watches them in the water, she realizes that, because there is no lifeguard or anyone else around, only she can save them if something happens. She sees the futility of trying to save them but also knows she cannot stop trying. She tells herself she will teach Mace to read, help Lou with the case, and move on.