"The Black Ball" is set over the course of a single night in life of a janitor named John. John works at a boutique hotel somewhere in the southwestern part of the United States.
John, who is often soft-spoken but amiable, begins his day by cleaning the lobby of the hotel he works at. Then, John goes back home and makes breakfast for his four-year-old son, who asks John if they are black. Alarmed, John asks his son why he wants to know. The boy tells his father that the hotel gardener’s son, Jackie, is making fun of him. Finally, John responds to the boy and tells him that he is technically brown, but at his core is American, which he says is the most important thing a person can be.
John returns to work after spending quite a lot of time with his son. While polishing door handles, a strange white man approaches John, who isn't initially sure what the man wants (he thinks the man could be jockeying for his job because John's boss has been firing black people recently). Instead, the man works with a local union and hopes to start a union at the hotel John works at so that they could earn more money and better working conditions. John initially rebuffs the man's offer because he thinks that unions are only for white people. The man, in turn, shows him scars on his body that he gained by fighting for unions for his black friends. The man leaves, but not before inviting John to an upcoming union meeting.
John begins his lunch break. During that lunch breaks, John eats with his son, who he loves dearly. They play together briefly, but John takes a nap and his son decides to go outside and play with the other children in the neighborhood. John falls asleep but wakes up to his son crying from the actions of a white boy in the neighborhood, who stole the ball of John's son. That ball, as it turns out, was knocked against John's bosses window and ruined one of his plants. And if John's son continues to play with the ball and on the lawn, John's boss warns, he will be "behind the black ball" (or out of a job).
At its core, as with many of Ellison's work, is a story about racism. It is a story about how structural and systematic racism has affected an entire race of people. It is also, in that vein, a story about how black and white people are inequal.
Thematically, "The Black Ball" explores themes related to racism, race, the connection between class and race, struggle, hope, family, how rules apply to black people differently than white people, and human connection. Although this is a story meant to entertain, it is a deeply emotional story about a topic that is important to Ellison.
