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

by James McBride

Discussion questions

  1. Discuss Ruth McBride's refusal to reveal her past and how that influenced her children's sense of themselves and their place in the world. Why was she reluctant to tell her children about her background? How has your knowledge—or lack thereof—about your family background shaped your own self-image?
  2. Do you get a sense of life under the old Jewish traditions? How does that compare to the Chinese way of life in Girl in Translation?
  3. As a child and teenager Rachel (Ruth’s Jewish name) is intensely lonely, but she does connect with one friend in high school. How does that relationship influence her?
  4. Why did Rachel feel she had to leave home? Was her sister justified in snubbing her after she moved to New York? Is a promise a promise? What causes a family to disown a member?
  5. Why was Ruth able to see African Americans as people deserving respect and love at a time when most whites did not view them as equal? What do you think she considered herself? She used the terms black and white to distinguish people. What did those words mean to her?
  6. McBride writes of his mother: "She never spoke about Jewish people as white. She spoke about them as Jews." How did this attitude affect the author?
  7. How did Ruth and her two husbands influence their children? What role did her second husband (the one James remembers) play for the children in contrast to his wife?
  8. "Our house was a combination three-ring circus and zoo, complete with ongoing action, daring feats, music, and animals." Does Ruth’s daughter Helen leave to escape her chaotic homelife or to escape the mother whose very appearance confuses her about who she is?
  9. "Mommy's contradictions crashed and slammed against one another like bumper cars at Coney Island. White folks, she felt, were implicitly evil toward blacks, yet she forced us to go to white schools to get the best education. Blacks could be trusted more, but anything involving blacks was probably substandard... She was against welfare and never applied for it despite our need, but championed those who availed themselves of it." Do you think these contradictions confused Ruth's children further, or did they somehow contribute to the balanced view of humanity that James McBride possesses?
  10. While reading the descriptions of the children's hunger, did you wonder why Ruth did not seek out some kind of assistance? Do you think she should have?
  11. The McBride children's struggle with their identities led each to her or his own "revolution." Is it also possible that that same struggle led them to define themselves through professional achievement?
  12. Several of the McBride children became involved in the civil rights movement. Do you think that this was a result of the times in which they lived, their need to belong to a group that lent them a solid identity, or a combination of these factors?
  13. "It was in her sense of education, more than any other, that Mommy conveyed her Jewishness to us." Do you agree with this statement? Is it possible that Ruth’s unshakable devotion to her faith, even though she converted to Christianity from Judaism, stems from her Orthodox Jewish upbringing?
  14. Do you think it was naïve of Ruth to think that her love for her family and her faith in God would overcome all potential obstacles or did you find her faith in God's love and guidance inspiring?
  15. While reading the book, were you curious about how Ruth’s remarkable faith had translated into the adult lives of her children? Do you think that faith is something that can be passed on from one generation to the next or do you think that faith instilled too strongly in children eventually causes them to turn away from it?
  16. What were some of the factors that formed Ruth's character and made her a survivor?
  17. Both Jews and blacks have faced incredible persecution and discrimination. Do these experiences bring them together? What factors keep them apart?
  18. What factors play into how we form an opinion on someone? Is it mainly based on appearance, including the color of one's skin? Would the world be better off if everyone was the same?
  19. Is it a benefit or burden to be mixed race?
  20. What factors might help break racial barriers? What exacerbates them? Do you think there will ever be a time that is colorblind? Is such a thing desirable?
  21. Have you ever felt like a minority? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this status?
  22. Do you think it would be possible to achieve what Ruth McBride Jordan achieved in today's society?

About the author

Born in 1957, James McBride is a journalist and musician. In addition to his bestselling memoir The Color of Water, he has published the novel Miracle at St. Anna (2002) drawing on the history of the overwhelmingly African American 92nd Infantry Division in the Italian campaign of World War II from mid-1944 to April 1945. The book was adapted into a movie of the same name, directed by Spike Lee (2008). In 2005, he published the first volume of The Process, a CD-based documentary about life as lived by low-profile jazz musicians. His novel Song Yet Sung features the notorious criminal Patty Cannon as a villain in his novel. He is currently a Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at New York University.

He plays tenor saxophone with the Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock band made up of writers including Amy Tan, Mitch Albom, Stephen King, Dave Barry, and Ridley Pearson, and has written songs for Anita Baker, Grover Washington Jr., Pura Fe and Gary Burton, among others.