A. A line of green shades—bankers’ lights—down the centerB. In the foyer up four steps a semicircular desk presidedC. On the right newspapers draped over what looked like a quilt rackD. All those books—another world—just waiting
D is the best answer.
It means present, at the time, happening currently.
unlike white people at that time, rights were decided merely by the color of a person’s skin. Black people did not have the same rights as white people. They couldn’t use the same bathrooms, participate in sports with white kids, or ride on the front of the bus. Jim Crow laws forced whites and blacks to live separately and not intermingle. It was even against the law for persons of different races to marry each other.