First Of All Quotes
Many of the ancient world understood the spherical earth over a thousand years before Galileo was persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church for stating that fact. See {590333} for another ancient view.
At the time racism and discrimination in the United States was not only rampant but legal. But change in many substrata of America was detectable and many intellectuals--writers, artists, scientists, educators, theologians, entertainers, groups who would later be called “elites” began to make themselves heard on the subject. Falkner was one whose novels had always taken an anti racist view point and now were overtly calling for political and social change.