Running head: The Color of Water

The Color of Water-A Black Mans Tribute to His White Mother

Derek Smith
University at Buffalo

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The Color of Water by James McBride is an enlightening novel that takes us
through the life of a Jewish-African American Boy, James and his Jewish Mother, Ruth.
As a child James always wondered about his identity while always getting denied any
insight to his background and heritage by his mother. To give her 12 black children a
better life, Ruth made countless sacrifices throughout the years to provide for her children
and to survive on her own. After Ruth was shunned and disowned from her Jewish family
for being in a relationship with a black man, she turned to religion and God to help her
throughout the darkest times in her years ahead. The novel brings about many themes that
will be analyzed such as discovering ones identity, the relationship between education
and poverty, how religion played a factor in the way the family was constructed, and how
racism, prejudice, and the ways in which discrimination were seen throughout the lives of
Ruth and her colored children. (McBride 2014)
I would like to start off this analysis of The Color of Water with a look at the
United States Constitution. The constitution is set forth to provide American Citizens the
groundwork in explaining the overall structure of the US government and providing
people with basic rights as members of this country. The constitution is introduced with
the preamble We the people. It is ironic that the first part of the constitution mentions
we the people when it clearly does not include the black people of the 20th century. The
American Constitution guarantees have not been realized in the time and places during
the time period of the novel. For years, Blacks, Native Americans, and non-Anglo-Saxons
were treated as second-class citizens. Our own doctrine guarantees us 5 things: Justice,
Domestic Tranquility, Common Defense, General Welfare, and Blessings of Liberty.
Throughout this Novel you can see many times that justice was not ensured, for example

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when Ruths son got pulled over and taken to court for a traffic violation and the only
thing that stopped the judge from pressing charges and convicting him of guilt was the
fact that Ruth was a privileged white lady, the same skin color as the judge. Throughout
the years because of many unjust laws and regulations, there have been amendments to
our constitution that allowed and encouraged more freedom of oppressed groups. To
ensure domestic tranquility- would have been to ensure peacefulness throughout the
country. Due to the thick amount of prejudice that was being experienced by black
people, there was no peacefulness being brought about.
As a young Jewish girl growing up in Norfolk, Virginia one would think that
because Ruth was light skinned she was off the hook. The discrimination and prejudice
that was going on in the South was extremely horrific. Jim Crow laws enacted legislation
that allowed blacks separate but equal treatment and had an effect on the way society
treated black people. Despite the negative effects and danger of being seen with a black
person in public, Ruth fell in love with a black man named Peter. It was a shame in the
eyes of the white people in her town; with it carried a negative stigma. One could have
gotten killed or hung for interacting with another race, particularly black people. As a
child, Ruth suffered because she was not white Anglo-Saxon to fit into her towns society,
which she realized very quickly and sympathized with the black folks in her town
because of their genuine care for people. Not accepted with whites and not accepted with
blacks is a struggle that not only Ruth faced but her children as they started to discover
themselves. As Ruth assimilated into life in the black neighborhoods, she again initially
felt like she was not wanted. Although her black husband had changed that perception
and brought her life, it was difficult living a life that people didnt accept her for who

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she was. Although Ruth got initial stares and weird looks from black folks, most
eventually accepted her. Contrary to this, the white folks never really agreed with what
Ruth did, how she lived, and how and whom she loved. This caused Ruth to assimilate
into the culture on the black side of town and accept herself and her newfound religion.
The prejudice starts from the life of Ruth and her father Mr. Shilsky. The time
period, the stereotype and negative stigma surrounding blacks during that period and
geographical location held an extremely prejudice view toward black people. As a
storeowner, he would charge black folks more on basic necessity items simply because he
did not like them. He had a strong vengeance against black people. As by definition,
prejudice is a negative thought, feeling, or attitude toward someone who is different from
you. It is not the discrimination itself but it can lead to be inclined to such acts. In society
there are many forms of prejudice such as race, sex, education, class, ability, and sexual
preference. Prejudice was seen throughout the book from the very beginning when James
talked about how he would ride the subway with his mother and they would mutter look
at her with those little niggers or people yelling down the street nigger lover (McBride
31). Even as a kid, Ruth experienced prejudice amongst the White Anglo Saxon
Protestants because she was Jewish. Ruths mother was treated poorly and seen and
referred to as a cripple because she had polio. Most notably of course, was a lot of
prejudice amongst the black folks. We can see this through the lens of Mr. Shilsky, the
officers, and the community. Based on Mertons Typology, we live in a world of people
being non-prejudice-discriminators and non-discriminating-prejudice people. I believe
this is developed through our social construct of life and the agents of socialization such
as media, education, religion, and family. Religion was a big agent of socialization within

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this novel; it provided the roadmap for the way in which Ruth raised her children and the
way in which she found new life from her transformation of being an Orthodox Jew to
a new Christian. Religion is what kept Ruth going, stating that all she needed to do was
believe in God. It is interesting how the relationship between religion and race were
prevalent when James asked what the color of Gods spirit was and his mom replying that
is doesnt have a color, it is the color of water. I think the fact that his mother didnt abide
by God being white allowed her to continue to be a believer in the spirit and truly give
herself to God. (McBride 51)
A theme that I would like to point out is the relationship between education and
poverty which creates systemic and institutionalized discrimination. As Ruth was a young
High School girl in Virginia she completed high school and went to live in New York.
Pregnant at age 15, candidate for an abortion, a close encounter with prostitution, she was
always at her wits end before meeting Mr. McBride. Although they would always seem to
struggle Ruth made it a point to make tremendous sacrifices to pay for her children to
attend camps, retreats, school functions, and ultimately college. She would often at times
give up her last penny just to make sure her child was safe and had a little extra change to
get by. Despite her children not wanting to attend, she enrolled her children in all Jewish
schools at young ages. My argument is that education saved Ruth. Having 12 children
allowed for her to seek support from them as they grew of age. Once the eldest child was
in his career full time, he provided support for his mother and it became an escape of
freedom and less struggle. All 12 of her children went and pursued higher education and
have become successful, and it is no coincidence; its the work and the values that Ruth
set up based on the environment that she created in her household. When James and his

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family moved to Wilmington, it was a quick shock for him and his family to realize how
much the area was segregated. Were most of the black kids attended understaffed and
underfunded city schools while whites attended sparkling clean suburban schools with
fantastic facilities. (McBride 2014). A framework such as this creates a much larger
problem than black kids and white kids going to different schools. This creates an access
issue in life. This systemic piece shows and limits minorities from pursuing careers,
attending universities, and living a free and fair life that our constitution has set it would
do. Due to the many injustices and sociological classifications as the one-drop rule, it
allowed for the continuance of racial segregation and racism to occur in the 20th century.
Also, because of De jure discrimination put in place by black codes and Jim Crow laws
the area of schooling leads to discrimination De Facto. Yes, all men are created equal
but not all men are treated equally, and more importantly, this society is not made up of
all men.
We can see throughout the story that James is experiencing cognitive dissonance;
his values and beliefs dont align with his actions. A major factor in this case is the fact
that he is struggling with his identity. After getting fired from the Dawsons, a white
couple who intended to help pay for James Europe trip in return for assistance at their
property, James finds out a while later that Mr. Dawson had died. When James gets the
letter from Ms. Dawson, a white lady, and is standing in the street with his black friends,
he is torn to stand up for what he believes is true and joins his friends as they talk poorly
of white people saying Forget these whiteys. Theyre all rich. They got no problems
(McBride 187). Although James appreciated all the support that the Dawsons had
provided for him, he was stuck in the middle of facing his friends and having them judge

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him on the fact that he did not in fact agree with their thoughts. I didnt want to be
white. My siblings had already instilled the notion of black pride in me (103) we can see
how James always struggled to find who he was. At this point in life, he could see the
vast differences of how certain people were being treated and how the community where
he lived didnt favor whites. Although whites got the privilege, I think because of the
exposure of negativity and hardship that his white mother faced, it led James off into a
direction and place where he did not want to associate himself with. I believe that James
went through a model of Biracial Identity Development in which Poston and Kich talked
about. First holding an identity of yourself, choosing where you fit into society, denying
yourself, coming to appreciate his identity, and then fully integrating it in his life (Cuyet
et al 199)
This novel really resonated with me because I am James. Although my mother is
not Jewish, she is very light skinned and looks nothing like me. All my life growing up
people would ask if I was adopted or who that lady was. Never was my mom ashamed of
raising two black mixed boys in a society full of hatred. Growing up was extremely
difficult going to public schools that were predominately white where kids would call me
nigger, we would be disowned by our own grandmother who at one point would not
allow my mother to step foot on her property because she was upset that her daughter was
in a relationship with a black man. Then we would get the occasional calls to the house
from my uncle who would call my mom a nigger lover because he was upset. It amazes
me how strong and triumphant Ruth and my own Mother are to live in such a society
where there is such a negative stigma of being with someone of color. When you are led
to believe something that you are not your whole life, it is very difficult to see that there

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are so many opportunities that lie ahead for you. You have to choose between what the
world expects of you and what you want for yourself (McBride 161).
The authors goals in the book The Color of Water were to showcase how learning
about our past can clear the way and make sense of what is going on in the present.
Through this process the author took us on a journey to lay the backbone as to how life as
a light skinned Jewish lady may have not been all that different than that of a JewishAfrican American boy. Although with lighter skin there comes privilege, this novel
showed how Ruth raised her kids in a society that favored light skin with many of the
barriers that went against and prevented people of color to exceed in society. The book
shows the discrimination, prejudice, and stigma that black people faced and the injustices
that our society has implemented, to oppress people of color when we are supposedly all
created equal.

References

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Cuyjet, M. (2011). Multiculturalism on campus theory, models, and
practices for understanding diversity and creating inclusion. Sterling, Va.: Stylus
Pub.

McBride, J. (1996). The color of water: A Black man's tribute to his white
mother. New York: Penguin Group.

Outline for my Book Report

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Talk about and summarize the book

Give major themes and arguments seen in the reading
Talk about the constitution-We the People
-Talk about the guarantees of the constitution and how they werent
recognized during this period
-Talk about the amendments
Talk about discrimination and prejudice
-What created prejudice?
-Who was prejudice?
-View of others
-negative stigma and why?
Talk about agents of socialization- How religion played in the social
construction of life
-Color of water
-different forms of prejudice
-not being accepted by either group
Theme of education and poverty
-access
-sacrifice
-segregation
Identity
-Talk about the struggles of identifying with self
-Cognitive Dissonance
Personal touch
-my story
Authors goals of the book