Race
relations have plagued the United States since the founding of the
country. Even today in the 21st century, matters
of race still color
relations among various groups within U.S. society.As a child
who was the product of mixed marriage, James McBride often found
himself wondering about his identity when he was a child. In fact, the
title of the book comes from his mother’s response to his question
about the color of God. Upon asking his mother what color he was, she
informed him that he was human. Afterwards, when he asked about God,
his mother responded that God was the color of water. Owing to
such responses from his mother, McBride succeeded in coping with the
effects of the racial divide existing in the United States. Recognizing
the debt he owed his mother, he wanted to tell her story to others.
This book is the result of his efforts.At the outset, McBride
notes that when he was growing up he knew nothing of his mother’s
personal history. He didn’t even know her maiden name. She was born in
Poland, the daughter of an orthodox rabbi. She married a black man in
1942 and raised twelve
children in Harlem. Stressing the importance of
education (and the church) to her children, she put them all through
college. Some even went on to graduate school. Many of them became
professionals in medicine, dentistry, teaching, and other fields. Unwilling at first to give her son any details about her personal history, McBride’s
mother—Rachel Deborah Shilsky (an Americanization of her original
Polish name)—eventually relented. Through a series of interviews with
her, McBride gleaned the information which appears in this book. It
tells the extraordinary story of her life, as well as his own.