Book Discussion Guide: Life on the Color Line
Judith A. FredianiLife on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black
An autobiography by Gregory Howard Williams
A Dutton Book, Penguin Group, NYC,1995.
ISBN 0-525-93850-8, 285 pages.
Description
Gregory Howard Williams and his younger brother, Mike, grew up believing they were white and that their dark-skinned father was of Italian descent. Then their parents’ marriage disintegrated, their mother departed, and their father’s business ventures sank into a sea of liquor. Pursued by debt and personal demons, "Tony" Williams took his two boys to his hometown of Muncie, Indiana, where he was known as "Buster," and where there was no escape from the truth he had hidden for so long. The truth was as plain as the color of Buster’s family. Gregory and Mike Williams were the sons of a brilliant and charming but troubled black man who fled the burden of race until need drove him back to his roots. Suddenly Gregory and Mike discovered they were black as well, strangers in a segregated world about which they knew nothing, forced to learn the strategies of survival amid the poverty, prejudice, and agonizing absurdities of a time and place in which racism flourished.
In this extraordinary and powerful memoir, Gregory Howard Williams recounts his remarkable journey along the color line and illuminates the contrasts between the black and white worlds: one of privilege, opportunity, and comfort, the other of deprivation, repression and struggle. He tells the story of his father, a self-destructive man who often neglected his children, but had faith in his eldest son’s ability to succeed in the face of nearly insurmountable obstacles. Of "Miss Dora," a loving family friend who gave Gregory and his brother the food they ate, the clothes on their backs, and the roof over their heads—all on a salary of just twenty-five dollars per week. Of the hostility and prejudice he encountered all too often, from both blacks and whites, and the surprising moments of encouragement and acceptance he found from each.
Williams tells the story, too, of the divergent paths he and his brother eventually took, one defying the odds and the advice of teachers and counselors to become a lawyer, the other succumbing to the lure of fun, flash, and the quick buck. Life on the Color Line is a uniquely important book. It is a compelling drama of a man straddling two worlds and two heritages, and a wonderfully inspiring testament of purpose, perseverance, and human triumph.
About the Author
Gregory Howard Williams is a graduate of Ball State University and George Washington University. He is Dean of the Ohio State University College of Law, and lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife and children.
Must reading for those who want to understand how identity is molded and reshaped by both culture and experience. It also serves as a reminder of how painful it is to be in a marginal status in our society, and while we weep for those who endure it, we must renew our vows to eradicate it.
—Albert J. Reiss, Jr., William Graham Sumner Professor of Sociology (Emeritus), Yale University
Reflection and Discussion Questions
- What were the primary feelings you experienced as you read this book?
- What surprised you about this life story?
- On page 68, the author writes: "Though only ten years old, I faced one of the hardest choices of my life: to dream or to despair. Too young to realize the odds against any one of us ever walking away from those tracks and changing the circumstances of our lives, I chose to dream." How do you explain the author’s choice? Have you ever faced a similar choice? What did you choose?
- What do you think the author learned from his father? His mother?
The author’s father "passed" as an Italian American. There is more than one way to "pass" as someone other than who you really are. Have you ever "passed"? - The author’s racial/ethnic heritage was complex and problematic in our society. Discuss the impact of his family ancestry on his life. Consider your own family heritage and discuss how it has affected you.
- Discuss the author’s experiences in school. How might low academic expectations, neglect and hostility affect a student’s scholastic performance, behavior and self-esteem? How do our school systems work now for poor children and children of color? How do you know?
- What did you learn about racism from this book? You might make a list of the ways in which Williams’s life was affected by racism. What do you think is different now in our society with regard to racism? The same? How do you know?
- What did you learn about yourself from this book?
Last updated on Wednesday, March 7, 2007.
