The main subject of this chapter is Reverend Homer A. Barbee's speech about the Founder's journey around the United States. The chapter begins with the narrator's giving more description of the college's campus, noting how beautiful everything looks. He constantly seems to have a positive view of the college. The narrator's journey ends at the college's chapel, where Barbee is to give his speech.

Upon entering the chapel, the narrator notices that Dr. Bledsoe is shaking hands calmly with many white people. Special notice is given to the fact that "he was the only one of us whom I knew...who could touch a white man with impunity" (114). This obvious referral to the contrast of black and white is found repeatedly throughout this chapter, such as when he mentions the black and white choir robes during his description of the campus. The speeches start with Dr. Bledsoe's speaking of his experiences with the Founder of the school. (The reader must understand that the college that IMan is attending is modeled after Tuskeegee, which was founded by Booker T. Washington. Therefore, it should be understood that the Founder acted much like Booker T. Washington in that he traveled the country giving speeches to strengthen the African-American influence in the United States.) Bledsoe explains some of the Founder's background, then gives the floor over to Barbee. Barbee continues with the story of the Founder and how they were traveling the land spreading the message of the Founder. He speaks of a specific speech at which the Founder was speaking to the people, then pauses and totters over. Bledsoe was quick to respond by singing a song with his powerful voice while the others took the Founder over to a bench to rest. This fainting incident is put off as a side effect of the nonstop travelling and working which they had been doing.

The topic of the speech quickly moves to the train on which the Founder's party of travelers was on when a strange illness falls upon the Founder. The train was traveling up the side of a mountain, a slow and troubling ascent. This train symbolizes the struggle that they were going through, the uphill battle that was being waged by the Founder and his followers. Barbee mentions looking out of the window of the train and seeing the North Star, and then it disappeared "as though the sky had shut its eye" (127). He then saw a single star burst in the sky, then shimmer and break up, streaking down the sky. Bledsoe asked him if he saw the star, he answered yes, and they prayed. This sight is another symbol of the Founder's death, a bright white star against a dark night. It shimmered for an instant, then died out, streaming down the sky like a single tear.

Barbee goes on to describe the death scene, at the side of the Founder's deathbed. He describes the Founder's image as a black face against a white pillow, as though he stood out from his surroundings. The dying man told Bledsoe to continue his dream, and to spread the word, just before he passed away. At that very instant, the train passes the summit of the mountain and begins its slow journey downward.

This chapter is packed with obvious symbols, most of which point directly to the Founder and his struggles. The black contrasted to white is also mentioned repeatedly throughout the chapter, not only in the speeches, but also in the narration by IMan. The stars in the sky and the train both symbolize the Founder's struggles, both through his entire life, and on the train itself, fighting for his last few breaths. This chapter has amazing meaning, much of which cannot be detected on the first read-through.