A PHOTO JOURNAL BY
JAISSON RESTREPO
ABOUT THE BOOK
‘’THE COLOR OF WATER’’
BY JAMES MCBRIDE
MAMEH
Hudis Shilsky was her name. She was born in 1896 in
the town of Dobryzn, Poland.
Ruth’s mother. Mother of three kids.
Marriaged with Fishel Shilsky. She was a quiet, gentle
and meek person. She always obeyed his husband,
from who sometimes she got verbal abuse .
She was dark hair, high cheekbones, but she had
polio. It paralyzed her left side. She was nearly blind
in her left eye and walked with a severe limp,
dragging her left foot behind her.
She said taught Ruth that it’s ok kill the chicken to eat
them, because they don’t fly, only the birds who fly
are special.
TATEH
Fishel Shilsky was Ruth’s father.
He was a orthodox rabbi.
Ruth and her sibling call him ‘Tateh’, it means ‘father’ in
Yiddish.
Marriaged with Hudis, with who had three kids.
He was short, dark, hairy, and gruff. ‘He was hard as a
rock’ Ruth said.
He was a business man, he only care about the money, his
money. His favorite child was the younger Dee Dee.
He hate folks, and black people, specially the black men.
He laughed and joked all the time about her disabled
wife.
After divorced Hudis he went to live with a fat and big
woman, with who he had a fear long time before
separated from Hudis
RUTH MCBRIDE JORDAN
Ruth was born on April 1, 1921 in Poland.
Jewish name: Ruchel Dwajra Zylska.
Her parents changed her name to Rachel
Deborah Shilsky when they came to United
States of America.
Mother of twelve kids. She was born in a Jewish
family but then she became in a Christian.
‘’Education and church’’ were the most
important things for her, specially to raise her
children.
She got married twice: with Andrew Dennis
McBride (1942) and then with Hunter Jordan.
(1958)
As a little girl Ruth was shy in the school, she only had one friend,
Frances, the others kids were rude with her because she was Jewish.
She always helped her father in the store, the family business that
they had back in Suffolk, Virginia.
Her father abused of her when Ruth was little, she was afraid from
him all the time.
She was not happy with her family, she missed a lot of love and
affection.
She had two sibling: Sam, the older, and Dee Dee, the younger of the
family. Ruth was the middle one.
She always liked and admired the black people, because even if they
were poor, they were happy all the time and they were loving each
other.
In 1941 she left Virginia when she was nineteen and decided moved
on to NYC.
In 1986 she graduated from Temple University, in social work when
she was 65 years old.
On Januay 9 2010 she died at her home in Ewing, N.J., at
the age of 88.
Grandmother, Ruth McBride Jordan
and Granddaughter, Z Amber
Richter
Atlanta, Georgia
Ruth McBride Jordan with some of her children
(nine/ten of them, she’s probably pregnant)
James McBride, Oberlin College; M.S.J.,
Journalism, Columbia University; writer,
composer, saxophonist.
He was born September 11, 1957 in NYC.
The kid number eight of twelve sibling.
The last son of Andrew Dennis McBride.
JAMES MCBRIDE
James McBride with his
daughter Azure McBride.
James McBride
and his Mother
Ruth McBride
Jordan
‘’A couple of weeks later the bus dropped me off and Mommy was
not there. (…) I ran into their arms and collapsed in tears as they
gathered around me, laughing.’’
MENORAH
HANUKKAH
‘’When they were out of sight, I turned to the Black
Panther’s son sitting behind me and pinched him square
in the face with my fist’’.
‘’God, I was scared of him. (…) Anytime he
had a chance, he’d try to get closer to me or
crawl into bed with me and molest me’’
‘’ A deep sigh. ‘Oh boy… God’s not black. He’s not white.
He’s a spirit’. (…) ‘It doesn’t have a color’, she said. ‘God is
the color of water. Water doesn’t have a color.’ ‘’
‘’So I did. I wrote Sam and told him to come
home, but he never did come home and I
never did see him again. He joined the army
and got killed in World Warr II, (…)
‘’ When I was in
fourth grade, a girl
came up to me in
the
schoolyard
during recess and
said, ‘You have the
prettiest hair. Let’s
be friends’ I said,
‘Okay’ ‘’
‘’ ‘ Smell it,’ Ma said. ‘It’s
spoiled.’
‘I don’t smell milk. I sell
milk’ (…) Ma stiffened.
Still holding the milk in
her right hand, she
turned around and flung
it at him like a football.
‘’Mameh came up to
me in the store a
couple of days later
while I was standing
behind the counter
and
placed
the
bracelet on the
counter. Real quiet.’’
‘’He’d had a stroke. I was
fourteen and didn’t know
what a stroke was. I
thought it was something
you got from the sun.’
‘’ The oranges were in case she
went into a diabetic shock. I
was instructed to give her a
piece of orange if this
happened. Would worry about
this constantly, and I’d often
sneak into her room when she
was taking naps and watch her
breath. If I saw her shake, I’d
wake her ‘Bubeh! Bubeh!’ ‘’
CHICKEN MAN
‘’Everybody in this corner is smart. (…) You think if
you drop out of school somebody’s gonna beg
you to go back? Hell no!’’
Chicken Man was a small man with deep, rich,
almost copper-toned skin, a wrinkled face and
laughing eyes. He smelled of liquor and beer all
the time, he always had a pocket full of candy.
Chicken Man was one of the most important
person in James’ life, because he taught to James,
that no matter what, we all have great skills but
use them for good or not in our life is our own
responsability.
Chicken Man by Roy Ferdinand, Jr.
(Self-taught artist)
‘’ I turned away, but not
before Frances saw my
tears. She got out line
herself but I waved her
away. ‘Frances, you go
on in,’ I said. ‘Don’t miss
the ceremony because
of me.’ She went in.
‘’The manager, Rocky,
(…)
hired
me
immediately. He put
the manicuring table
in the front window
and he plopped me
right there an I
worked
in
the
window.’’
‘’ ’If you stay
here, you’ll fool
around’, She’d
say. ‘Go away
and learn to live
on your own.’ ‘’
‘’ ‘I don’t believe you,’ she said. ‘I know you’re going back.
Please don’t go back. Promise me you’ll stay’. ‘’
‘But she’d say, ‘That
chicken is just a
showing God we’re
thankful for living.
It’s just a chicken. It’s
not a bird who flies.
A bird who flies is
special. You would
never trap a bird
who flies.’ ‘’
‘’Sometimes in the
hospital I would go
into the hallway and
cry
so
Dennis
wouldn’t see me.’
ANDREW DENNIS MCBRIDE
ROSETTA MCBRIDE
DAVID MCBRIDE
THANK YOU!!!