The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride

The Color of Water by James McBride is a book about overcoming struggle and breaking through societal expectations. In the novel, McBride describes his childhood growing up in New York with 12 brothers and sisters, and their single, white mother. Herein lies the issue, because the 12 children were all dark skinned, and all had African American fathers. Their mother's name was Ruth, and was not only white, but Jewish as well. There were so many factors going against this family since this book takes place mostly in the late 50's and early 60's, and during those times racially mixed marriages were frowned upon, much more so than present times. McBride also goes on to write about his process before actually writing this book, and through this journey describes how he came to realize just how much adversity he's had to face throughout his life. He even found out some things that he never knew about his mother. There is also a pattern in this book that jumps from stories of McBride's childhood, to the next chapter in which his mother Ruth tells a story from her own childhood.

9 of the 12 Children with Ruth (James bottom left)

Ruth Shilsky was her name as a child, and she grew up in a Jewish family of immigrants from Poland in Suffolk, Virginia. She describes how strict her father was, and how eventually she was drawn away from her immediate family because of this, and rebelled by eventually running away and marrying a non-Jew, black man against her father's wishes. Through all of this you begin to see how these events molded her into the tough woman she became that aided her in protecting her 12 children from people who were against what their family stood for.

James and Ruth

I definitely recommend this book to anyone, no matter race, gender, or social status because it is very inspirational. It shows that no matter what your background is in life, or how much some people would like to see you fail, you just have to keep pushing and do it for yourself. The fact that Ruth was strong enough to not only raise her 12 kids nearly alone, but also put them all through college, is a testament to hard work and how unnecessary it is to care what others may think of you. This sort of moral lesson could be useful to anyone in any situation of diversity they may be facing. If Ruth can successfully raise 12 mixed race children in a time when racism was still very much alive, than surely someone else can succeed in much smaller and manageable endeavors. I will forever look back on this book for inspiration and say to myself, if she can do that, than surely I can do anything I put my mind to.