THE SCARLET WOMAN

ONCE I was good like the Virgin Mary and the Minister's wife.My father worked for Mr. Pullman and white people's tips; but he died two days after his insurance expired.I had nothing, so I had to go to work.All the stock I had was a white girl's education and a face that enchanted the men of both races.Starvation danced with me.So when Big Lizzie, who kept a house for white men, came to me with tales of fortune that I could reap from the sale of my virtue I bowed my head to Vice.Now I can drink more gin than any man for miles around.Gin is better than all the water in Lethe.

Fenton Johnson (1888-1958)