Harlem Rhapsody

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism.

Jessie and Will arrive In Washington, DC. Jessie is in town to speak at Dunbar High School, and Will offers to say a few words to the students as well. At the Whitelaw Hotel, Will greets an employee named James Du Bois (no relation) whom he is mentoring. As Jessie gets ready, Will gets a call at the front desk. When he returns, he says that he can’t come with her to the high school after all. She suspects that he is meeting with Georgia. He asks her to meet him for dinner later, and Jessie tells him not to make promises he will break. She leaves in a cab.

After speaking at the school, Jessie returns to the hotel and works on her novel. She considers having her protagonist, Joanna, choose love instead of leaving the man she is involved with for her career. Jessie compares her life with Joanna’s life and falls asleep. Will wakes her up and offers to discuss her novel. She shares her ideas about Joanna, and Will says that having her choose her beloved would be a surprising ending. He hints that Jessie and Joanna are both succeeding in their careers admirably, and he says that he longs for another time and place where he could have married Jessie.