In Toni Cade Bambara’s short story “The Lesson” Miss Moore is an outsider in her community because she is “different” than most of the other woman. She dresses in her own style, she speaks properly, and is the only “black woman without a first name.” The children call her Miss Moore because she expects it, and they do not know her first name. Most of the adults in their lives are related to them in some way, but she is not. Miss Moore is college educated and exhibits a moral conscientiousness for educating the youth of the neighborhood. The other adults gossip about her but they allow her to take responsibility for the worldly education of their children when they were not in school. She does not go to church but she kindly shares when she bakes or makes something special. In this tight knit African-American community, Miss Moore is an enigma.
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