"Mr. Z" by M. Carl Holman

"Taught early that his mother's skin was the sign of error,"

Question 6 asks what color Mr. Z was. At first glance, I thought he could be any ethnicity (besides Caucasian). However, after rereading the poem, he is an African American. "Cornbread, yams, and collards" are foods traditionally associated with the south, and "jazz and spirituals" are more specifically associated with African Americans. However, since it is only his mother's skin that is the "sign of error," his father was probably Caucasian, and Mr. Z was the child of these two races. The irony in the last line is that Mr. Z is "One of the most distinguished members of his race" yet, that is the last thing he would have wanted. He tried all his life to escape his mother's culture and heritage. He cast aside that part of him to act as if he were completely white.