Ester is an older African American woman who is sitting by a tall tree. She looks at the tree reflecting on life. She touches the tree as if the life of someone she loved was growing within its roots, and this is true. She begins to tell her story of the reason that this tree is so important. It is the last “Hanging Tree” in the Texas city of Mansfield. It is the tree that many years ago her son Toby was hung from one of the branches. In a time in American history when African American people were fighting for their freedom to live as any free men and women, many people of all ages took to the streets to march in protest. Against Ester’s better judgment Toby participates in a march and ends up hanging fruit from a tree that is now standing in the middle of the downtown square, on display as a symbol of the past for many in the city. But for Ester it is a place where she can connect with her son who was taken from her long before his time. Ester’s reality of the situation is a sobering vision of a mother’s grief and how it is possible to experience the greats loss of your life and still move forward.