Yesterday Today
Black Woman With Fried Drumstick says that the death of the last black man in the whole entire world happened, "Yesterday today next summer tomorrow just uh moment uhgoh in 1317..." Her statement is a symbol that this death, this horror has been happening for centuries and continues to this day and into the foreseeable future.
Collar
The Black Man With Watermelon wants to remove his collar because he can't breathe. This is a symbol of him trying to breathe as he has been hung by a noose upon a tree, and thus killed in cruel form.
Black Man With Watermelon
Parks names this character Black Man With Watermelon. It is a symbol of the stereotype of the black man that has been created because of the lack of written history along with the atrocities and hatred perpetrated against him. He is named out of stereotype, not truth.
LAND HO!
Before Columbus says "LAND HO!" in the final scene. This is a symbol that the white man is discovering that the world is in fact round. And, this means that they will begin to put the black man in their place after having themselves been put in their place by being proved wrong that the world is not flat.
Under a Rock
Black Man With Watermelon is told to write down what has happened and put it under a rock. This is a symbol that the history of the black man must be preserved, that their written history has been destroyed because they weren't allowed to write it down.
