As a piece of historical fiction, White Lilacs is grounded in historical fact while weaving in characters and events that are fictional. Although the novel takes place nearly 60 years after the end of the Civil War, Meyer explores the remnants of slavery and racial injustice that continued to exist in the 1920s. Although free citizens by law, Rose Lee and her community continue to be oppressed by the institutional systems in place in Texas at that time, leaving them vulnerable to the decisions of the white community in Dillon.

The conflict at the center of the novel—the decision by the City Council of Dillon to destroy Freedomtown to form a city park—is based on real events in Denton in 1921. Meyer writes that, while living in Denton in 1991, she was present at the unveiling of a historical plaque. It commemorated the lives of the citizens of Quakertown, a “thriving community” of Black citizens who were “required to move [after] a bond election was held to raise $75,000, to create a city park on the 27 acre Quakertown site” (240). Little is known of Quakertown aside from this plaque, much of it actively hidden as a “taboo subject,” by Black citizens out of fear and white people out of “embarrassment” (240-41).