Most of the names sounded white. There was Willie Mae Jones, Leroy Washington, Roosevelt Tucker, Bessie Lou Bean, and a few other black names. But the list looked awfully pale.
But the professor's voice had risen slightly in a question as he read Jimmy Willie Hall off the class card. The professor had intended no rudeness and he made this clear by nodding in ackowledgement to Jim's Heah, but someone in the back of the room had sniggered and this churlishness to a stranger had embarrassed Ellen, embarrassed all the more because she, too, had smiled at the ludicrous sound.