way it has been misused. I think they've learned from their experiences. And we've seen instances where black and white work together effectively". Part III Part Three of In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens includes the following essays: "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens" "From an Interview" "A Letter to the Editor of Ms." "Breaking Chains and Encouraging Life" "If the Present Looks Like the Past, What Does the Future Look Like?" "Looking to the Side, and Back" "To The Black Scholar" "Brothers and Sisters" Part three addresses black women coping with self-worth and self-respect. It offers encouragement to future generations of Black men and women. Walker begins part III with a poem by Marilou Awiakta, "Motheroot." In this section of the collection Walker is on a mental journey seeking ways to uplift the Black race. Along this exploration she uses literature of other Black poets and writers to gain a deeper insight on Black women in their era, which assisted Walker in understanding society in her era. In the opening of "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens", Walker quotes from Jean Toomer's Cane, taking note that in early literature by black men, black women were seen has hopeless and characterized as mere sex objects. "I asked her to hope, and build up an inner life against the coming of that day…I sang, with a strange quiver in my voice, a promise song." The focus of this essay is on that of the Black women throughout history who have created masterpieces from the scraps they were afforded. Black women's potential for creative freedom is stifled by their position in society that places a series of tropes and caricatures onto their being, operating to delegitimize the work they produce. Walker says black women did not have the opportunity to pursue their dreams because they were given the main responsibility of raising children, obeying their husbands, and maintaining the household: "Or was she required to bake biscuits for a lazy backwater tramp, when she cried out in her soul to paint watercolors of sunsets, or the rain falling on the green and peaceful pasturelands? Or was her body broken and forced to bear children." Walker personalizes these women by referring to them as "our mothers and grandmothers". Toomer felt that black women were unhappy and felt unloved. Both Walker and Toomer felt that black women were not allowed to dream, yet alone