“Roselily” is a story about the sacrifices Black women make to survive, and reflects the experiences of Black women who lived in the South in the wake of the Civil Rights movement. The main character, Roselily, is in the process of moving from one compromised position—that of a single Black mother in Panther Burn, Mississippi—to another, by agreeing to marry a man who intends to take her to a city she does not know, and whose religion she associates with constriction. Roselily is not unhappy about her decision, but the story focuses on the complicated, knotty internal debate going on in her head about what it means to lose her freedom and agency as a self-supporting mother.

The central conflict of the story is set up immediately: a tension between Northern and Southern models for Black American identity and agency. The religious and cultural clash between Roselily and her groom is not only a sticking point in her mind. In many ways, their union represents the larger issues of Black identity in the era. Throughout the Civil Rights movement, Black Southerners—particularly religious Black Southerners—believed that real change was possible within racist communities, while Black Northerners, many of whom adopted Islam, were more likely to advocate for a departure from racist systems and communities.