The Color of Water, by writer/musician James McBride, is an excellent autobiographical account of the author’s struggle to define himself. The book is subtitled “A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother,” and that places it in context pretty well.
Every other chapter is from his mother’s point of view; she was raised an Orthodox Jew in Suffolk, Virginia (not too far from my neck of the woods!), and ended up marrying a black man and moving to New York City. Her Jewish family basically declares her dead to them, and she and her husband start a Christian church. If you haven’t read it, you should. It’s entrancing. Even some students who hate reading can’t put this one down!
Available Teaching Materials
- Anticipation Guide – DOC or PDF
- Quiz #1 – chapters 1-6 (not available for download)
- Quiz #2 – chapters 7-11 (not available for download)
- Quiz #3 – chapters 12-17 (not available for download)
- Quiz #4 – chapters 18-22 (not available for download)
- Quiz #5 – chapters 23-Epilogue (not available for download)
© 2008 – 2010, mrshawke-dot-com.
Most of my teaching resources are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License, which means you can feel free to use them with attribution as long as you don’t use them commercially. If you’re not sure, don’t hesitate to ask me. Unfortunately, I am currently unable to send out my tests and quizzes, but I am hoping to establish a less time-consuming alternative for this in the near future. Sorry!!
