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 151
... sister brings friends to do stuff they can't do out in the open , like smoke herb and drink wine coolers out of brown paper bags . Back here there isn't even a TV , like the one that's al- ways on in the front room , where Lisa's tiny ...
... sister brings friends to do stuff they can't do out in the open , like smoke herb and drink wine coolers out of brown paper bags . Back here there isn't even a TV , like the one that's al- ways on in the front room , where Lisa's tiny ...
Page 157
... sister in a tiny rundown house in Hunter's Point , but not to me . isa and me up at Wilson , one of the toughest high schools in Lisa the city . There's no way we'd be up here if Lisa's sister didn't go here , if Lisa couldn't say she ...
... sister in a tiny rundown house in Hunter's Point , but not to me . isa and me up at Wilson , one of the toughest high schools in Lisa the city . There's no way we'd be up here if Lisa's sister didn't go here , if Lisa couldn't say she ...
Page 225
... sister is now seventeen and , having been admitted to Yale , waits with her classmates at their expensive northeast private high school for the world to shift . I play the part of the proud sister well , reading over her essays ...
... sister is now seventeen and , having been admitted to Yale , waits with her classmates at their expensive northeast private high school for the world to shift . I play the part of the proud sister well , reading over her essays ...
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Common terms and phrases
Andi Hirsch Andrew arms baby bathroom bedroom best friend Bethany bike black girls blue body boyfriend boys Bronx camp Colleen color comes Daddy Dakeba dark Dark Star door drives eyes face father feel Fire Lake floor front Gloria Vanderbilt Grandma green hand head high school inside Japantown jeans jelly shoes Jewish kids kitchen Larchmont laugh legs Lena Lena's Lisa Lisa's listen living room look Malaika Mama Mervyn's Michael mother movie never night parents pick play Price Is Right pull pushing Rebecca Rebecca Walker remember Roberta Flack San Francisco says Sergio Valente jeans shirt shit side Sing sister skin smell smile stand stepmother stop street talk tell Theresa thing tiny trying Uncle Bobby Utne Reader waiting walk Walker watch wearing window woman yellow
References to this book
Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism Jennifer Baumgardner,Amy Richards No preview available - 2005 |