Summary

Chalk is based on the life story of a couple who gave birth to twenty-three children. It paints a powerful picture of the life of one black family living in the Southeastern United States of America during the Depression up through the 1960s.

Book Structure

The book is divided into three parts of the couple's life together: life in Georgia where they found each other, life in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where they reared their children, and finally, life during their maturing years where they begin receiving an anticipated and long-awaited support check from the Social Security Administration to allow the couple to live a more comfortable life in retirement.