“Praying for Sheetrock” is a work of nonfiction by the author Melissa Fay Greene in 1990s. The book basically shows the landscape of The Civil Rights Movements in McIntosh, Georgia back in 1970s. The author also indirectly mentions the relationship between black and white communities throughout two individual characters: Sheriff Poppell and Thurnell Alston. The reality of racial discrimination was such a serious issue back then, it continues to exist even today. According to the book, Tom Poppell represents the “law” which is improper and unjust justice. Thurnell Alston is the opposite, he is unemployed black man, and does not have enough education. The beginning of the book mentions about two trucks, which collided on the old Highway 17 where the traffic used to be slammed down through the coastal lowlands and pinewoods of McIntosh county in…show more content… One truck was full of shoes, and sheriff Tom Poppell started allowing the black people who had gathered silently around the smoking wreck to help themselves to box after box of good leather shoes, red, black and green shoes they could never have afforded by themselves, all wrapped in tissue paper. Beside Sheriff Tompell and the black man Thurnell Alston, McIntosh county seems to be a strong earthy presence, like another character. It is on the area of the Georgia Sea Island coast between Savannah and Brunswick, known as one of the poorest counties in Georgia in that certain time. That county is half black and half white communities. In the past, the main assets of county McIntosh were tourists and truck drivers on U.S. 17, it was really crowded on the road, until the Interstate shut that down. McIntosh was widely and unfavorably known tourist trap on the route to Florida.
