People of Means

Johnson (The Kindest Lie) delivers an illuminating multigenerational drama of a Black mother and daughter finding their way amid America’s racial inequities. It begins in 1959 Nashville, where Chicagoan Freda Gilroy arrives to study mathematics at Fisk University, an HBCU revered by her father, who, like W.E.B. Du Bois, considered higher education to be “their people’s true emancipation.” She’s soon caught in a love triangle with premed student Gerald, who subscribes to her father’s ideals, and firebrand activist Darius, who drops out to focus on battling segregation. Eventually, Freda ends up with Gerald. A parallel narrative set in 1992 Chicago follows their daughter, Tulip, a PR agent whose dismissive colleagues chalk up her presence to their firm’s diversity quota. With the Los Angeles riots roiling the country, Tulip is torn between striving for professional success and fighting for justice, especially after she gets involved with a protest group whose members dismiss her for being more privileged than they are. As the alternating story lines unfold, Johnson reveals what happened between Freda, Gerald, and Darius, and the effects of Freda’s choices on Tulip, offering a nuanced reflection on her characters’ sacrifices and the limits of Black respectability politics. It’s a satisfying tale of intergenerational reckoning. Agent: Danielle Bukowski, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Feb.)