Read this excerpt from The Land. "I hate folks thinking of me as white and you colored," he went on. "Wish folks thought of us as the same."

"Which the same?" I questioned. "White or colored?"

"Don't matter to me," said Robert without hesitation, "long as we were the same."

"I figure it'd matter you had to live colored awhile."

Robert was silent to that, then reluctantly agreed. "Maybe so . . . but I'll tell you something, Paul. You don't feel no different to me than Hammond or George. I hate folks saying that word 'half' brother. How can you be 'half' of a brother? Either you're brothers or you're not."

How does the historical setting affect Paul and Robert?