It would be accurate to say that Ralph Ellison's Juneteenth opens with a bang: the near-assassination of an old, racist Senator called Adam Sunraider. But this horrible act of violence could have been prevented had Sunraider's secretary actually listened to a Black church congregation, Sunraider would not be lying on his bed, near-death.
Surprisingly, Sunraider asks for the leader of the Black church congregation, called Hickman, to come to his hospital room so the two could reminisce about their past. The vast majority of the novel takes place by Sunraider's hospital bed as the two talk about their lives, Sunraider in a semiconscious and oftentimes hallucinogenic state and Hickman in a fully lucid state.
In one story, Sunraider talks about his life as Alonzo Hickman's (the aforementioned Hickman's brother) adopted son and how the two dealt some of the challenges that faced them, like how Hickman could only be the one to take care of his - perhaps half - brother.
