The Color of Water

The Color of Water is a nonfiction book written by James McBride. Released in 1995, it details the author's relationship with his mother.

Publisher's summary[]

Touches readers of all colors as a vivid portrait of growing up, a haunting meditation on race and identity, and a lyrical valentine to a mother from her son.

Who is Ruth McBride Jordan? A self-declared "light-skinned" woman evasive about her ethnicity, yet steadfast in her love for her twelve black children. James McBride, journalist, musician and son, explores his mother's past, as well as his own upbringing and heritage, in a poignant and powerful debut, The Color Of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother.

The son of a black minister and a woman who would not admit she was white, James McBride grew up in "orchestrated chaos" with his eleven siblings in the poor, all-black projects of Red Hook, Brooklyn. "Mommy," a fiercely protective woman with "dark eyes full of pep and fire," herded her brood to Manhattan's free cultural events, sent them off on buses to the best (and mainly Jewish) schools, demanded good grades and commanded respect. As a young man, McBride saw his mother as a source of embarrassment, worry, and confusion--and reached thirty before he began to discover the truth about her early life and long-buried pain.

In The Color of Water, McBride retraces his mother's footsteps and, through her searing and spirited voice, recreates her remarkable story. The daughter of a failed itinerant Orthodox rabbi, she was born Rachel Shilsky (actually Ruchel Dwara Zylska) in Poland on April 1, 1921. Fleeing pogroms, her family emigrated to America and ultimately settled in Suffolk, Virginia, a small town where anti-Semitism and racial tensions ran high. With candor and immediacy, Ruth describes her parents' loveless marriage; her fragile, handicapped mother; her cruel, sexually-abusive father; and the rest of the family and life she abandoned.

At seventeen, after fleeing Virginia and settling in New York City, Ruth married a black minister and founded the all-black New Brown Memorial Baptist Church in her Red Hook living room. "God is the color of water," Ruth McBride taught her children, firmly convinced that life's blessings and life's values transcend race. Twice widowed, and continually confronting overwhelming adversity and racism, Ruth's determination, drive and discipline saw her dozen children through college--and most through graduate school. At age 65, she herself received a degree in social work from Temple University.

Interspersed throughout his mother's compelling narrative, McBride shares candid recollections of his own experiences as a mixed-race child of poverty, his flirtations with drugs and violence, and his eventual self-realization and professional success. The Color of Water touches readers of all colors as a vivid portrait of growing up, a haunting meditation on race and identity, and a lyrical valentine to a mother from her son.

Summary[]

Chapter 1: Dead[]

Ruth McBride briefly discusses her birth (she was born in Poland in 1921), her father (a rabbi who fled from the Russians into Poland), and her mother (a polio-stricken meek woman).

Chapter 2: The Bicycle[]

James McBride describes his family - a large family which was raised by his mother Ruth. James' stepfather died when James was fourteen years old (leading Ruth to take up riding a bicycle).

Chapter 3: Kosher[]

Ruth's family emigrated to America when Ruth was only two years old (in 1923, between the two World Wars). Shortly after this, Ruth's grandfather died - leading her to gain claustrophobia after thinking about her grandfather being accidentally buried alive.

Chapter 4: Black Power[]

James recounts his family's ties to the civil rights and black power movements of the Sixties (his mother admired Malcolm X while James [though he rallied around the term "black power"] feared the Black Panthers killing his white mother as a child).

Chapter 5: The Old Testament[]

During Ruth's childhood, they moved across New York before her father decided to move into Virginia and leave the rabbinical call to set up a grocery store. During this time, Ruth was molested by her father - which left her with trust issues and nearly led to her nearly becoming "a prostitute or dead" before she her husband.

Chapter 6: The New Testament[]

During James' childhood, Ruth visited a small church with an inspired though somewhat incompetent pastor. His older brother (Richie) stopped visiting Sunday School after an argument over the skin color of Jesus (though, according to James, he is still a Christian).

Chapter 7: Sam[]

While in Virginia, Ruth's brother Sam runs away from home. He moves to Detroit and dies in World War II (which Ruth finds out nearly two decades later, in 1957).

Chapter 8: Brothers and Sisters[]

Of James' many siblings, two come to mind. One is James' oldest brother, Dennis, who was a devout member of the Civil Rights movement and who went to medical school. The other is an older sister, Helen, who was also a devout member of the Civil Rights movement but who ran away from home after a fight.

Chapter 9: Shul[]

Though Ruth's father wanted to send her to a Jewish private school, she instead went to a white public school. Though Ruth was largely friendless (on account of the bigotry of the times), she had one friend - a gentile girl named Frances.

Chapter 10: School[]

Ruth invests herself heavily in her children's education. James feels somewhat distant while at his largely white school. Richie (one of James' brothers, who later becomes a chemist) gets wrongly arrested but Ruth is able to get the charges dropped.

Chapter 11: Boys[]

Ruth meets and begins an affair with a black boy. During this time, she fears that she will be found out by the KKK or her father (both of which would kill her boyfriend, with the latter most likely killing her). This is worsened once she becomes pregnant. She is soon found out by her mother, who sends her to New York to visit her grandmother.

Chapter 12: Daddy[]

James' biological father (Andrew McBride) died before he was born. For most of his childhood, the father figure in his life was his stepfather - an older man named Hunter Jordan. Shortly after marrying Ruth, Hunter moved the entire family into a house he bought with his life savings'. The house was torn down to "build a low-income-housing high rise" (in 1995, the high rise was still not made). Hunter died after this from a stroke.

Chapter 13: New York[]

While in New York, Ruth tells her aunt Betsy about her pregnancy. Betsy arranges for her to have an abortion (an extremely painful process). Despite this, Betsy still cuts Ruth off later in life.

Chapter 14: Chicken Man[]

After Hunter's death (as his mother grows more and more distant), James begins to turn towards a life of crime. After flunking out of school and summer school, Ruth sends James to Kentucky to live with relatives for a short time. While in Kentucky, James meets a man known as the "Chicken Man" who imparts wisdom into James' life that he should make something of himself rather than turning to a life of crime.

Chapter 15: Graduation[]

Shortly after her abortion, Ruth returns to Virginia for a brief time. During this time, she is convinced that she will leave for New York before she can be married off by her father. Ruth is emboldened to attend her high school graduation due to her friend Frances but during the pre-graduation march into a Protestant church, Ruth leaves the ceremony altogether.

Chapter 16: Driving[]

Though Ruth drove frequently while living in Virginia, she unlearned the ability once she moved to NYC due to her reliance of public transportation. The only time she drove while in NYC (shortly after Hunter's death) was an absolute nightmare for both her and James.

Chapter 17: Lost in New York[]

Shortly after moving to New York, Ruth bounced between jobs. Her first job was at her aunt Mary's and uncle Isaac's shoe factory. It was here that she met Andrew McBride (or Dennis) for the first time. She soon left the company due to Mary's vicious behavior. Her next job was as a manicurist. The owner of the manicurist nearly manipulated Ruth into becoming a prostitute until Andrew told her that the man was a pimp.

Chapter 18: Lost in Delaware[]

Because of the rising cost of housing in NYC, Ruth (with after some extremely indecisive deliberation) moves to Delaware. James (who by this point has largely left drug use and crime in the past) enrolls in a Delaware high school. His musical aptitude lets him go on a trip to Europe with the help of a white woman. After James graduates from high school, he enrolls in Oberlin College in Ohio.

Chapter 19: The Promise[]

Dennis and Ruth begin dating, though they don't marry. One day, Ruth becomes homesick and decides to revisit Virginia. Around this time, the relationship between her mother and father has reached its breaking point (with "Tateh", her father having an affair with an already-married non-Jewish woman). Tateh divorces Ruth's mother - leaving her completely alone in the world.

Chapter 20: Old Man Shilsky[]

After graduating from college and becoming a journalist, James is driving through Virginia to find out more about himself. He finds the town that Ruth grew up in and meets an old black man who tells James about his grandfather (calling him "Old Man Shilsky" and describing him as cruel and racist).

Chapter 21: A Bird Who Flies[]

Shortly after Ruth's grandmother dies, she leaves Virginia. Tateh tries to get her to stay but only angers her further. Ruth's mother dies only a brief time after Ruth leaves her (essentially alone) and Ruth's family cuts her off completely due to their own prejudice about Ruth marrying a black man.

Chapter 22: A Jew Discovered[]

To discover more about his own family (in preparation for writing this book), James visits Virginia once he again. He finds an old Jewish slaughterhouse owner who knew the Shilskys. After talking with the old man (whom he finds extremely welcoming), he visits the sight of the old Shilsky store (which has now been made into a McDonalds).

Chapter 23: Dennis[]

Though Dennis is initially hesitant to tie the knot with Ruth, he marries her with the help of the Reverend Abner Brown in the 1940s. As Dennis begins his own career as a preacher, he and Ruth have several kids. While Ruth is pregnant with James, Dennis falls ill from cancer. He dies after a drawn-out battle with the illness - leaving Ruth despondent. Dennis' family and friends step up to help Ruth recover, while the Shilskys cut off Ruth even further.

Chapter 24: New Brown[]

Ruth visits the church that Dennis helped to build several decades after his death. Though the new pastor of the church initially offends her, he soon makes up for it.

Chapter 25: Finding Ruthie[]

James details the process that led to him writing The Color of Water.

Epilogue[]

Ruth attends the wedding of a Jewish friend of James (David Lee Preston). Though she cries during the wedding, she leaves immediately after the ceremony finishes.

Sources[]

Wikipedia
Goodreads