From the bestselling author of Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird: The modern classic that spent more than two years on The New York Times bestseller list and that Oprah.com calls one of the best memoirs of a generation.
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.
From the bestselling author of Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird: The modern classic that spent more than two years on The New York Times bestseller list and that Oprah.com calls one of the best memoirs of a generation.
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.
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Find The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother James McBride in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
Find The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother James McBride in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
3 books in catalog
Exploring the intersections of race, identity, community, and American history through vibrant storytelling and memoir, the literature of James McBride spans award-winning fiction, journalism, screenwriting, and musical composition. His landmark 1996 memoir, The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother, spent more than two years on the New York Times bestseller list, sold millions of copies, and became an American classic taught widely in schools and universities across the United States. His acclaimed body of fiction includes the National Book Award-winning novel The Good Lord Bird, the Oprah's Book Club selection Deacon King Kong, and The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.
Beyond his prose, McBride's multi-faceted career encompasses investigative journalism for major national publications, screenwriting for feature film adaptations, and a long-standing profession as a jazz saxophonist, composer, and songwriter.
A native New Yorker born on September 11, 1957, and raised in New York City public schools, McBride pursued parallel interests in music and writing from an early age. He attended Oberlin College in Ohio, where he majored in communications while studying jazz and composition at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He later earned his master's degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. His journalism career included staff writer positions at The Boston Globe, People Magazine, and The Washington Post, with additional publications appearing in Essence, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times. In 2007, his National Geographic feature story "Hip Hop Planet" provided an influential examination of African American music and culture.
Alongside his journalistic and literary work, McBride established himself as an accomplished composer and musician. Playing saxophone and piano, he toured as a sideman with jazz legend Jimmy Scott and wrote songs for artists including Anita Baker, Grover Washington Jr., Pura Fé, and Gary Burton. He also composed music for the PBS television character "Barney" (noting humorously that while he did not write the "I Love You" song, he wishes he did). McBride co-wrote the musical Bobos with playwright Ed Shockley, earning both the Stephen Sondheim Award and the Richard Rodgers Foundation Horizon Award. In 2003, his Riffin' and Pontificatin' musical tour was filmed for a nationally televised Comcast documentary, and he frequently performs public literary readings accompanied by a live band. Self-deprecatingly, he admits to being the worst dancer in African Americana history and jokes that fleas fly out when he removes his hat.
McBride's contributions to American literature and culture have received widespread national recognition. In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded him the National Humanities Medal "for humanizing the complexities of discussing race in America." McBride holds several honorary doctorates and serves as a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University.
McBride's writing style is characterized by rhythmic pacing, empathetic characterization, historical grounding, and a distinctive blend of warm humor and tragic reality. Drawing directly from his musical background as a saxophonist and composer, his narrative prose often mirrors musical composition, incorporating polyphonic character perspectives, oral storytelling traditions, and authentic vernacular dialogue. His work frequently examines themes of racial identity, heritage, interfaith solidarity, and the resilience of marginalized communities navigating systemic hardship.
Whether chronicling his own family heritage in non-fiction or portraying historical figures and fictional neighborhoods, McBride approaches historical storytelling with a focus on human dignity, ironic humor, and deep community ties. His stories frequently center on tightly knit, multicultural neighborhoods where unlikely alliances are forged across racial, religious, and social lines, illustrating how shared human experience transcends cultural divisions.
3 books in catalog
Exploring the intersections of race, identity, community, and American history through vibrant storytelling and memoir, the literature of James McBride spans award-winning fiction, journalism, screenwriting, and musical composition. His landmark 1996 memoir, The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother, spent more than two years on the New York Times bestseller list, sold millions of copies, and became an American classic taught widely in schools and universities across the United States. His acclaimed body of fiction includes the National Book Award-winning novel The Good Lord Bird, the Oprah's Book Club selection Deacon King Kong, and The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.
Beyond his prose, McBride's multi-faceted career encompasses investigative journalism for major national publications, screenwriting for feature film adaptations, and a long-standing profession as a jazz saxophonist, composer, and songwriter.
A native New Yorker born on September 11, 1957, and raised in New York City public schools, McBride pursued parallel interests in music and writing from an early age. He attended Oberlin College in Ohio, where he majored in communications while studying jazz and composition at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He later earned his master's degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. His journalism career included staff writer positions at The Boston Globe, People Magazine, and The Washington Post, with additional publications appearing in Essence, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times. In 2007, his National Geographic feature story "Hip Hop Planet" provided an influential examination of African American music and culture.
Alongside his journalistic and literary work, McBride established himself as an accomplished composer and musician. Playing saxophone and piano, he toured as a sideman with jazz legend Jimmy Scott and wrote songs for artists including Anita Baker, Grover Washington Jr., Pura Fé, and Gary Burton. He also composed music for the PBS television character "Barney" (noting humorously that while he did not write the "I Love You" song, he wishes he did). McBride co-wrote the musical Bobos with playwright Ed Shockley, earning both the Stephen Sondheim Award and the Richard Rodgers Foundation Horizon Award. In 2003, his Riffin' and Pontificatin' musical tour was filmed for a nationally televised Comcast documentary, and he frequently performs public literary readings accompanied by a live band. Self-deprecatingly, he admits to being the worst dancer in African Americana history and jokes that fleas fly out when he removes his hat.
McBride's contributions to American literature and culture have received widespread national recognition. In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded him the National Humanities Medal "for humanizing the complexities of discussing race in America." McBride holds several honorary doctorates and serves as a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University.
McBride's writing style is characterized by rhythmic pacing, empathetic characterization, historical grounding, and a distinctive blend of warm humor and tragic reality. Drawing directly from his musical background as a saxophonist and composer, his narrative prose often mirrors musical composition, incorporating polyphonic character perspectives, oral storytelling traditions, and authentic vernacular dialogue. His work frequently examines themes of racial identity, heritage, interfaith solidarity, and the resilience of marginalized communities navigating systemic hardship.
Whether chronicling his own family heritage in non-fiction or portraying historical figures and fictional neighborhoods, McBride approaches historical storytelling with a focus on human dignity, ironic humor, and deep community ties. His stories frequently center on tightly knit, multicultural neighborhoods where unlikely alliances are forged across racial, religious, and social lines, illustrating how shared human experience transcends cultural divisions.
