Preview

Black Power-the Color of Water Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
485 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Black Power-the Color of Water Essay Example
Black Power
As James was little he learned that white people and black people didn’t get along so it put his family in a pretty tight space.
When James asked his mother where she came from she often changed the subject or replied with “god made me” or “I’m light skinned”.
In 1966 black had permeated every element of James neighborhood in St. Albans Queens.
Malcolm X had been killed and had grown larger in death than in life.
The black panthers were a force. Public buildings, statues, monuments, even trees started out as their dull colors and reemerged the next morning painted green, red & black.
People often asked or teased James about adoption.
Teenyboppers often gathered to talk of revolutions.
James thought that because his mother was white she would get killed because of black power.
His mother constantly insisted on absolute privacy, excellent school grades, and to trust no outsiders of either race.
Ms. McBride trusted blacks way more than whites she thought that whites where evil toward blacks.
Both blacks and whites where racists towards her.
The only times Ruth McBride would turn and fight back to an insult was if it threatened her children.
Some of Ruth McBride’s civil war heroes were Malcolm X, Paul Robeson, Jackie Robinson, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

The Old Testament
Father was a traveling Rabbi.
Her mother had poor health she could barely see out of one eye, had severe pains in her stomach that grew very painful. Ruth said that he mother could do more with the one hand than she could do with her two hands.
Ruth also said that her father had no love for her mother. He would call her by different names and make fun of her. He was married because to him it was just like a business deal & all he wanted was money.
Every place that her Father went he would sign a contract with the synagogue for a year. At the end the synagogue wouldn’t renew it so they would pack up & find somewhere else to live.
“Living. That was your

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Because Ruth told Travis that she didn’t have any money to spare, Walter also didn't back her up and undermined her authority as a parent.…

    • 283 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    After James meets Aubrey Rubenstein, he learns about the background of his family and mother, and how she lived and why she chose to be different than the other Jewish people. He learns about his mother’s past and how she lived back then. This was the only thing James was looking for his whole life which his background of his mother’s family and where he came from. James states, “Whatever I’m looking for, I’ve found it” (Color, P.228). This means the trip of James for what he came is over, and found the guy who he was looking for and recorded a message tap to his mother that says, “ I don't know if you remember me or not , but if you do , I'm glad to meet your son and i see you've accomplished a great deal in your life. If you're ever down…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the first part, The Ethics of Living Jim Crow, the writer is fighting a war in cinder with several white boys. Because white boys have some places to hide, but the writer doesn’t, Wright is injured by broken bottle. When he meets his mother, his mother beat him, rather than comfort him. “she would smack my rump with the stave, and while the skin was still smarting, impart to me gems of Jim Crow wisdom.” This is first lesson to Wright that black should act differently than normal people, or even act against instincts.…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    She wanted the best for every single one of her kids. Also, she was missing the great religion aspect of her life. Furthermore, she needed the guidance to get back on track with her life. Consequently, Ruth has stumbled upon something that turned her life around. She found someone that would change her life in the matter of seconds. His name, was Dennis Adams McBride. They met up in the city of Harlem. He was from North Carolin and played a huge role in Ruth’s life. He believed in the Christian faith. He also was black, and for that reason, shows Ruth’s understanding about racism. Ruth was always against it. She even stated she hated people that were racist. Alternatively, they got married after a few years of dat ing. “See, a marriage needs love. And God. And a little money. That’s all. The rest you can deal with. It’s not about black or white” (McBride 233). This more importantly shows her non racism thoughts towards the black community. As a result of this marriage, Ruth converted from a Jew to practicing Catholicism with Dennis. From then on, it was the best for Ruth and Dennis. Unfortunately, a few months into Ruth’s pregnancy with James, she had lost her husband. Dennis ended up dying from lung cancer. Ruth was in shock and she prayed for him ever since. Afterwards, she then had James. When he was grown up, they both shared their Catholic faith and both wanted the best for each…

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    James mother never tells him the truth about her background as a child. McBride states in the novel, “When I asked her where she was from, she would say, “God made me,” and change the subject. When I asked her if she was white, she’d say, “No. I’m light-skinned,” and change the subject again. When his mother and his friends’ mothers were, around each other he tries to compare her to them. McBride says, “Gradually, as the weeks passed and the terror of going to school subsided, I began to notice something about my mother, that she looked nothing like the other kids’ mothers. Then one day he hears his mother speak another language. She could speak in Yiddish.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I’m your mother” (13), she said that when asked by James why she didn’t look like him or anyone else in the family. Throughout her entire life Ruth never cared about what religion someone was or what the color of their skin was; all she cared about was what they were like as a person. This is shown when she falls in love for the first time and it is a black man. Even though Ruth knew her family wouldn’t approve of that she dated him anyways because he treated her nicely and he didn’t judge her. James never really had racism directed at him personally in the book but he was always conflicted with which side to take. As a child he believed that the Black Panthers were out to get his mom and that they were going to kill her. He was conflicted because all of his peers and neighbors seemed to support the Black Panthers but he thought that he couldn’t because he wanted his mother to be…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the late 19th century, Ida B. Wells dedicated most of her life to spreading the word about the horrific nature of lynching in the American South. Wells was a journalist, teacher, rights activist, and a public speaker. As an African American woman in the south during this time, Ida B. Wells was able to use her status as journalist to expose to the general public the true facts of lynching cases that suggested black wrongdoings. Wells used cases from all over America to convey the innocence of African American lynching victims. There was a huge double standard between whites and black on the premise of crime. Although white men also participated in heinous acts, they were far less punished compared to their black neighbors. The majority of the cases being brought up at the time suggested that African American men were violating white women. Many violent white men would choose to murder an African American because they suspected he had been “criminally intimate”1 with a white women. In some instances, the reason for lynching was totally personal and obviously took place just to make a statement and “keep the nigger down”2 and the white men would justify it by claiming that the African American was wrong or barbaric. Because lynching is unlawful and without a trial, the accused stood little to no chance in seeking justice. Wells tries to make it clear that white women were to blame just as much as the black men who were involved in the affairs, and that in most of the situations the women were consenting or even initiating the intimate acts. When trying expose the truth about these issues, Wells and others who spoke up were warned and told off by the white men’s press. Even though it was evident that the southern white population was unhappy about the claims being made against lynching, Wells made it clear that she had a specific purpose to disprove the assertions being made against her people.…

    • 1473 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    He was always wondering why his mother’s skin color was different than the other mothers. When he asked his mother, “Am I black or white?” she responded, “You’re a human being. Educate yourself or you’ll be nobody.” Then one day he asked his mother, “What color is God’s spirit?” And she answered, “It doesn’t have a color. God is the color of water. Water doesn’t have a color.” I love this quote, because it is so spiritual and its meaning is so true. Ruth was saying that God is not black or white and thus he loves all races equally. Race doesn’t make people worthy of God's grace. Although James did not understand at that time, he does now. He understands why his mother put him and his siblings in white schools, not only because they are the best, but because white people shouldn’t be the only ones able to have a great education. Through his mother, he learned that color does not matter especially because everyone is equally God’s…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "They were Negroes and we were also Negroes. I just didn't see Negroes hating each other so much," she says being surprised that lighter-skinned blacks would try to give themselves social distinction relative to darker-skinned blacks. Moody experiences each kind of prejudice and also shows a discriminate attitude toward lighter-skinned…

    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On page 22, it says, “We were all clearly black… Mommy was, by her own definition,”light-skinned”.” This analysis shows that James figured out that his mother didn’t look like him or any of his siblings. He was dark-skinned with curly brown hair which his mother didn’t have. This confused James on who he was and what his real culture was. Also, James’ race and the skin of his mother confused him on what he is. Page 161 says, “Like my own mother did in the time of stress, I turned to God.” This hints at during his time of need, James turned to god to get back on track and focus on the stuff that should matter. God/religion helped James through life and to get on the right…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Before ‘Black power’ had emerged, changes that had occurred were slow and painful for the Black communities spread across America. The laws that had been passed had rarely been enforced, although they were passed as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, such as desegregation in schools and the desegregation on all interstate buses and so on. The members of black power had wanted to focus mainly upon the social issues faced by black people who consisted of poverty and the ways of living in ghettos, which meant that black people were becoming increasingly interested as it had appealed to them and that was a major issue that impacted their life. Impatience grew and according to Vivian Saunders “...America’s ghettos erupted into violence each summer.” This proves that black people had enough, turning to and showing an interest in the radical and violent ways that black power had to offer. This is extremely significant due to the fact that without the slow movement of the civil rights movement, black power would not have interested desperate black people of America at all and the radical forms of protest would not have been necessary. In addition to that there had been reports that were distributed putting an emphasis on the harsh living conditions in…

    • 826 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He was born in Macon, GA in 1830 when slavery was common (catholichearld.com). This was a very challenging time in history to be black. As a slave, James did not have any rights. He was considered property. James was fortunate, because his father moved him to Connecticut in 1835, where slavery was not practiced (catholichearld.com). Even though he was no longer working as a slave, James had to work harder than everyone else because he was not seen as equal (patheos.com). “As a black child and the son of a Roman Catholic Irishman, James found himself subjected to both racism and anti-Catholic slurs during his time in Quaker boarding schools (patheos.com). ” James would wake up super early in the morning, and had to work out on the farm for hours to make up the time before he could leave for school (O’toole, pg 62). He would get so tired he would sometimes fall asleep in class. His faith in God kept him…

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Malcolm X Research Paper

    • 1127 Words
    • 5 Pages

    of his time that not all whites were racist and that there were many who…

    • 1127 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For example, in the book it says how Tom Robinson’s wife and kids were harassed by the father of the white woman who accused Robinson of rape. This means that the treatment Robinsons family was getting was not because of what Robinson was accused of but because of the color of their skin because they had nothing to do with what Robinson was accused of. Black people were treated very poorly just because of the color of their skin.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The fear of the black community is a central theme of the novel. Most of the town’s white community showed some sort of prejudice toward black people. This is shown throughout the novel, such as when Mrs Dubose makes the remark to Jem: “Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for!”. Members of the black community are referred to as ‘niggers’ and other derogatory names by the white community. The white community creates the illusion that the black people are completely different to white people, by referring to black people with words such as ‘nigger’ or ‘darky’. This then leads to the illusion that black people are sub-human, and they are to be treated as such. Even children in the novel refer to blacks as ‘niggers’ emphasising that racial segregation was so common that even children were developing these prejudice views from an early age.…

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays