James McBride
God is the color of water, as explained by James McBride’s mother in The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother (1996). Ruth McBride, a white woman born Jewish (and named Rachel), married to a black man, is not interested in color. She’s interested in keeping the wolf from the door while seeing that her 12 children grow up to be educated, contributing adults. She’s also not interested in talking about her childhood or her family to her children. While Ruth is busy shepherding her children, they are trying to grow up in New York City, just as Black Power is becoming a forceful movement across the U.S.
More by James McBride
Musical compositions, including a CD, The Process, Volume One. 2003.
Miracle at St. Anna. 2001. [Fiction]
MILK Project. Family: A Celebration of Humanity (M.I.L.K.). 2001. [Foreword by James McBride]
Brown, Keith Michael. Sacred Bond: Black Men and Their Mothers. 2000. [Foreword by James McBride]
About James McBride
Official Web Site
Awards for The Color of Water
American Library Association Notable Book 1997
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Literary Excellence 1997
New York City Reads Together Selection, 2003.
One Book for Greater Hartford Selection, 2003
One Book, One Community (Michigan State University) Selection, 2004
One Book/One Philadelphia Selection, 2004
Princeton Reads Selection, 2006
Read On Fort Collins (Colorado State University) Selection, 2006
Reading Together (Kalamazoo, MI) Selection, 2005
Resource-full Site
BookBrowse.com
Interviews
Barnes & Noble Online Chat with James McBride
“James McBride Stays in Tune,” powells.com
“An Interview with the Author of The Color of Water, Stony Brook University (SUNY), Program in Writing and Rhetoric
Reviews of The Color of Water
Artyom M., Teen Ink, October, 2002.
http://teenink.com/Past/2002/October/Books/TheColorof.html
BrothersJudd.com [Note the Webliography at the bottom of the review page]
http://brothersjudd.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/reviews.detail/book_id/550/Color%20of%20Wat.htm
Brown, Mary Daniels, Notes in the Margin, February 12, 1998.
http://www.notesinthemargin.org/biography.html#m
Geiger, H. Jack, “Rachel and Her Children,” New York Times on the Web, March 31, 1996.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/bsp/water.html
Kaylor, Rachel, Setonian Online, September 17, 2004.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/Setonian/004550.html
Kirkus Reviews from Google Book Search
http://books.google.com/books?id=7TBuAAAACAAJ&dq=color+of+water
Marcus, James. Salon Sneak Peeks
http://www.salon.com/05/sneakpeeks/sneakpeeks9.html
Family Secrets
Ruth was remarkable in the silence she kept about her childhood, and her family. She was a victim of physical and psychological abuse, including incest, by her father, and then her family disowned her. Her former life had been so painful she did not want it to be part of her present life. No wonder she kept secrets from her children. Yet it was these secrets that drove her to create a better future for her children.
Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. 2006. [Graphic novel]
Bradshaw, John. Family Secrets: The Path to Self-acceptance and Reunion. 1996.
Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees. 2002. [Fiction]
Martin, Sandra, ed. The First Man in My Life: Daughters Write about Their Fathers. 2007.
Ryan, Terry. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words 0r Less. 2001. [See the movie of the same name]
The Times
Between Ruth’s story and James’s, we are treated to an overview of American history and culture from the 1920s to the 1970s, from the richness of the Harlem Renaissance to the strength of the Black Power Movement.
“20th Century History by the Decades”
Cleaver, Eldridge. Soul on Ice. 1967.
Divine, Robert, et al. America Past and Present (Single Volume Edition), 2001.
Forrest Gump [DVD]
Lawrence, Jacob, Harlem Renaissance Artist
Intolerance/Segregation
Within Ruth’s family life, and in the outer sphere of America in the 20th century, intolerance is rife, regarding both religion and race. And it has a notably public face in the fact of segregation.
Bartleman, James K., Raisin Wine: A Boyhood in a Different Muskoka. 2007.
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. 1960. [Fiction]
McCarthy, Susan Carol. Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands. 2002. [Fiction]
Roberts, Gene and Hank Klibanoff. The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation. 2006.
Overcoming Adversity
Through sheer determination and religious faith, Ruth saw to it that her dreams for her children were fulfilled: they all became educated, contributing adults. Thus Ruth herself overcame the adversity of her upbringing, and despite the grinding poverty her children grew up in, they too were able to move away from their economic hardships.
Abernethy, Bob and William Bole. Life of Meaning: Reflections on Faith, Doubt, and Repairing the World. 2007.
Chong, Denise. The Girl in the Picture: The Kim Phuc Story. 1999.
Elders, Joycelyn and David Chanoff. Joycelyn Elders, M.D.: From Sharecropper’s Daughter to Surgeon General of the United States of America. 1996.
Gardner, Chris. The Pursuit of Happyness. 2006.
Roy, Gabrielle. The Tin Flute. 1947. [Fiction]
(Created with the help of the Oxford County Workshop participants. All Web sites accessed June, 2007.
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