As Corky waits at the drugstore for America to arrive, she sees Earl, her father’s employee, taking a gun from his car and going back into the store. Corky also notices a van full of students from the Black Presbyterian college pulling up out front. One by one the students enter the store and move toward the soda fountain. Corky suddenly understands what Noah IV and Dr. DuBose were talking to her father about—she’s witnessing High Cotton’s first sit-in protest. Corky remembers the violence she’s seen on TV during such protests and feels scared. America arrives, looking shocked, and Corky wants to shout that she did not invite her for this. America runs away.

At first, nobody moves. Then, Mack sits down at the soda fountain and waits for the first to student to sit next to him. Cal looks irritated with his son and Noah IV yells at him to stop. Corky realizes how quickly hatred can escalate to violence, and understands why Earl got the gun. Despite Noah IV’s protests, Cal tells Earl to serve the students without further incident.

After the sit-in ends, a reporter comes by the drugstore and interviews Corky about what happened—he tells her reading newspaper articles is one way people can learn.