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. |
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Page 62
... stop putting the rubbery cubes into my mouth , draining the sugar out of them and then spitting the wad out into the little straw wastepaper basket by my bed . By the time my mother gets home , I have finished all six packs . I stop ...
... stop putting the rubbery cubes into my mouth , draining the sugar out of them and then spitting the wad out into the little straw wastepaper basket by my bed . By the time my mother gets home , I have finished all six packs . I stop ...
Page 111
... stop on Haight Street , the street we walked up and down when we were kids , younger , in fifth grade , and I cry , seeing her , reaching out to her , to this shell of someone I knew . But she holds herself back , looking at me but ...
... stop on Haight Street , the street we walked up and down when we were kids , younger , in fifth grade , and I cry , seeing her , reaching out to her , to this shell of someone I knew . But she holds herself back , looking at me but ...
Page 121
... stop in the square with the basketball court , where I had the twins , where I met Michael that first time . I stop at that bench to catch my breath a minute , resting my bike against the chess table . I don't do all of that in one ...
... stop in the square with the basketball court , where I had the twins , where I met Michael that first time . I stop at that bench to catch my breath a minute , resting my bike against the chess table . I don't do all of that in one ...
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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 |