I got up to leave. There was nothing more to be said. He had asked for what he knew I could not give, and I… — Octavia E. Butler

Margaret Weylin complained because she couldn’t find anything to complain about.

Some of his neighbors found out what I was doing and offered him fatherly advice. It was dangerous to educate slaves, they warned. Education made blacks dissatisfied with slavery. It spoiled them for field work. The Methodist minister said it made them disobedient, made them want more than the Lord intended them to have.

There was no shame in raping a black woman, but there could be shame in loving one. (p124)