The Trouble of Color
An American Family Memoir
Martha S. Jones
- An
- “intimate
- and
- searching”
- (Natasha
- Trethewey,
- New
- York
- Times–bestselling
- author
- of
- Memorial
- Drive)
- memoir
- of
- family,
- color,
- and
- being
- Black,
- white,
- and
- other
- in
- America,
- from
- “one
- of
- our
- country’s
- greatest
- historians”
- (Clint
- Smith,
- #1
- New
- York
- Times–bestselling
- author
- of
- How
- the
- Word
- is
- Passed)Martha
- S.
- Jones
- grew
- up
- feeling
- her
- Black
- identity
- was
- obvious
- to
- all
- who
- saw
- her.
- But
- weeks
- into
- college,
- a
- Black
- Studies
- classmate
- challenged
- Jones’s
- right
- to
- speak.
- Suspicious
- of
- the
- color
- of
- her
- skin
- and
- the
- texture
- of
- her
- hair,
- he
- confronted
- her
- with
- a
- question
- that
- inspired
- a
- lifetime
- of
- introspection:
- “Who
- do
- you
- think
- you
- are?”Now
- a
- prizewinning
- scholar
- of
- Black
- history,
- Jones
- delves
- into
- her
- family’s
- past
- for
- answers.
- In
- every
- generation
- since
- her
- great-great-great-grandmother
- survived
- enslavement
- to
- raise
- a
- free
- family,
- color
- determined
- her
- ancestors’
- lives.
- But
- the
- color
- line
- was
- shifting
- and
- jagged,
- not
- fixed
- and
- straight.
- Some
- backed
- away
- from
- it,
- others
- skipped
- along
- it,
- and
- others
- still
- were
- cut
- deep
- by
- its
- sharp
- teeth.Journeying
- across
- centuries,
- from
- rural
- Kentucky
- and
- small-town
- North
- Carolina
- to
- New
- York
- City
- and
- its
- suburbs,
- The
- Trouble
- of
- Color
- is
- a
- lyrical,
- deeply
- felt
- meditation
- on
- the
- most
- fundamental
- matters
- of
- identity,
- belonging,
- and family.
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