Black, White, and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting SelfIn a memoir about the power of race to share one's personal identity, the daughter of Jewish father and African-American mother recalls her confusing but ultimately rewarding life lived between two conflicting ethnic identities. When Mel Leventhal married Alice Walker during the civil rights movement in the late 1960s, his mother declared him dead and did not reconcile until after the birth of her first grandchild. After Mel and Alice divorced, their daughter, Rebecca, alternated homes every two years, spending time in Mississippi, Brooklyn, San Francisco's Haight Ashbury, Washington, D.C., the Bronx, and suburban Westchester. With each new place came a new identity and desperate attempts to fit in: as white or black, as Puerto Rican or Jewish, as a party girl, a fighter, or a lover. Confused, and mostly alone, she turned to sex, drugs, books, and a cast of dangerous and thrilling characters. Black, White, and Jewish is the story of a child's unique struggle for identity and home when nothing in her world told her who she was or where she belonged. Poetic reflections on memory, time, and identity punctuate this gritty exploration of race and sexuality. Rebecca Walker has taken up the lineage of her mother, Alice, whose last name she chose to carry, and has written a lucid and inventive memoir that marks the launch of a major new literary talent. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 18
Page 119
... bathroom . The bathroom is brown and yellow , everything in it covered with cut- out pieces of fuzzy carpet . Asha has on a frilly light blue and pale pink dress with matching bows in her hair , plastic birdie barrettes swinging from ...
... bathroom . The bathroom is brown and yellow , everything in it covered with cut- out pieces of fuzzy carpet . Asha has on a frilly light blue and pale pink dress with matching bows in her hair , plastic birdie barrettes swinging from ...
Page 144
... bathroom , Lena's bath- room . I'm wearing a bright red jacket and flowery shirt . My hair is a curly mass , my lips are shining , my cheeks flushed . I can't count on my hands and feet how many times I watch Lena get ready to go to ...
... bathroom , Lena's bath- room . I'm wearing a bright red jacket and flowery shirt . My hair is a curly mass , my lips are shining , my cheeks flushed . I can't count on my hands and feet how many times I watch Lena get ready to go to ...
Page 205
... bathroom , right down the brown - tiled hallway from the front doors of the school . She has just come out of one of the stalls and I am washing my hands and she asks me what am I , anyhow . She has taken a bathroom break from AP ...
... bathroom , right down the brown - tiled hallway from the front doors of the school . She has just come out of one of the stalls and I am washing my hands and she asks me what am I , anyhow . She has taken a bathroom break from AP ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Andrew arms blue body boys brown camp close color comes Daddy dark door drives everything eyes face father feel floor friends front girls give goes Grandma green hair hand hard head hear hold imagine inside Jewish keep kids kind kitchen late later laugh leave legs Lena light Lisa listen living look Mama means meet Michael mind mother move never night parents pick play pull pushing remember says shirt side Sing sister skin smile sometimes stand starts stay stepmother stop street sure talk tell thing told trying turn Uncle waiting walk wall watch wearing whole window woman women write yellow
References to this book
Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism Jennifer Baumgardner,Amy Richards No preview available - 2005 |