Against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, White Gloves and Collards is the story of a privileged childhood in Edenton, North Carolina, a small southern town that cherishes its customs and history as symbolized by the Confederate Monument at the foot of Broad Street. As she copes with the untimely deaths of her parents, young Helen observes how the community is coping with a different kind of loss-an end to the Jim Crow rules of behavior they've always lived by. With love and support from a brainy older brother, an eclectic extended family (many of whom are segregationists), and a wise African-American maid, she tries to make sense of the changes taking place around her, both in her personal life and in society as a whole.