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The Bottom is a hilly part of the town of Medallion where the African American community lives. Despite being situated up in the hills, it is called the Bottom and it started to be called this way as a "nigger joke.The kind white folks tell." (Morrison 4). A white farmer once promised freedom and a piece of land to his slave; nevertheless, the farmer was not willing to give fertile land to the slave, therefore, he tricked the slave into thinking that the richest and most fertile land lies in the hills. The slave believed him and took the land from him, he even let himself believe that the reason for calling the place the Bottom is that when God looks down from heaven, the Bottom is the first place he sees (Morrison 5). The name which Morrison chose for this part of the town indicates that the African American inhabitants of the Bottom were dealing with racial oppression and moreover, they still are dealing with racial oppression in 1919, where the novel begins. The Bottom community's also deal with the absence of male characters and describes the underlying issues of male/female relationships which are presented. Male protagonist are mostly absent in the Bottom community because they are trying to gain economic success and to win their manhood back in the patriarchal society of the United States. African American men were deprived of their manhood during slavery. Along with emasculated came the loss of their power to protect their women. For example, when an African American woman was raped by her owner, African American men did not have the power to step in and stop it. .
The relationship becomes fundamental for African American women because mothers need to "teach their daughters skills that will „take them anywhere‟" (Collins 126).
