Root Magic

If their farm is a place in which Gullah culture is respected and celebrated, the school is the place in which Jez and Jay must explicitly contend with the outside world. For Jez, it is a place where she struggles socially but excels academically, while it is the opposite for Jay. However, both sets of difficulties don’t stop them from attending, even though Jez especially articulates that her social troubles are enough that she is willing to skip school. Janey views it as an opportunity for the twins to prepare for the future, telling her children, “You must, must, must go to school […] So you have a chance at a future” (132). She does not wish for them to get stuck by being seen as uneducated.

As a young adult novel, Root Magic uses the school to portray the struggles that Gullah Geechee children may have experienced for being different. Additionally, Doc also explains that he was ridiculed because “we were poor. And I was skinny. And our skin was dark” (140). Just like in the adult world, Black children also experienced discrimination from members of their own community. Royce also alludes to the dangers faced by students who were the first to integrate with white schools in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education, which ruled that segregation was unconstitutional. The threat of violence at these schools was such that police had to be involved; however, as Janey points out, “[i]t’ll be a good thing when it finally does happen, because you kids will get better schooling” (34). South Carolina, in which the novel is set, is the last novel to set, and it is the last state to integrate its schools, showing how deeply racism permeates the state.

However, the school also becomes a place in which Jez learns about Black history. Her teacher, Miss Watson, introduces her and other students to Black American icons like Gwendolyn Brooks and James Baldwin, trying to fill a gap that many schools have ignored. Her lessons inspire Jez, showing her the many ways that one can remember their history.

Ultimately, Jez learns how to persist through school, and the novel does not bring her two worlds together. Instead, rootwork must remain something that she does in secret. However, the magic and its connections to her home and ancestors fuel her through the teasing she receives from other children.