"The Color of Water"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines writer and musician James McBride's memoir "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to his White Mother". It looks at how James McBride was born of an interracial marriage between a white, Jewish mother and a Black, Christian father and how some of his negative life experiences included racism, poverty, segregation and a substandard education. It discusses how while he experienced many prejudices, he has also experienced many good and positive things within his life and how his priorities in life included his home and family and these factors were very positive influences upon his life.

From the Paper:

"The famous writer and musician, James McBride, tells the story of a conversation with his mother: He asks her the question, "Am I Black or White?" She replied, "You're a human being. Educate yourself or you'll be a nobody!" McBride's mother, Ruthie Shilsky McBride Jordan, instilled within her children two values. One was respect for education and the other was religious belief. What makes this story inspiring is that she succeeded against strong odds. They were raising her family in all-black lower-income neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens in New York City, where opportunities for her children to get into major trouble abounded. An orthodox Jew born in Poland and raised in the South, Ruthie's early life included her abusive father, an itinerant rabbi who ran a grocery store where he exploited his black customers. "

More papers on "The Color of Water":

• Book Review # 74324 : "'The Color Of Water': McBride"
• Analytical Essay # 26593 : "The Color of Water"
• Analytical Essay # 16091 : "The Color of Water"

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