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The Color of Water The Color of Water: A Black man?s tribute to his white mother by James McBride is the story of a young black man trying to reveal his mothers past and his own identity. Set in the 1960?s in New York City, James tries to figure out his mothers past while struggling with his own racial identity. James?s childhood was spent in a chaotic home with 12 children while his mother, Ruth was working hard just to put enough food on the table. Ruth came to America when she was a young girl from a family of Polish Jewish immigrants. While growing up, Ruth lived in Suffolk, Virginia, where a large population of blacks lived. Her father, Fishel Shilsky was racist towards blacks while Ruth wanted to befriend them. Ruth eventually married two b