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Summary: CROSSOVER DREAMS...
Review: This is an intriguing memoir that allows the reader to see what life was like for the author whose early life was defined by issues of race and color. The author had spent his early years in Virginia, where his white mother and his dark-skinned "Italian" father operated a roadside tavern. Growing up in the South, where issues of race and color were so important, the author had always thought that he was white, as he had been raised as such. When his parents' business, as well as their marriage, collapsed, his mother left them, forcing his father to return home to his roots in Muncie, Indiana. Abandoned by their mother, it was there that the author and his younger brother, Mike, were to discover which side of the then great color divide he and his brother were on. The lesson would be a difficult one.In Muncie, Indiana, they were to discover that their father, rather than being Italian, was bi-racial, born of the union of a Black woman and a White father. In those times, however, you were considered to be either White or Black. So in Indiana, he was Black, even though, ironically, in the South he had passed for White. Now, his children, Greg and Mike, were to learn that, notwithstanding their appearance, they were considered to be Black, and forced to live in a segregated world on the wrong side of the race and color divide. They quickly learned what it was to be considered second class citizens. This was the nineteen fifties, during the heyday of the Klu Klux Klan, and well before the Civil Rights Movement had taken hold, so feelings ran very high on issues of race and color. Looking as if they were White but considered to be Black, the boys found themselves in a limbo of sorts, rejected by both Whites and Blacks. They had to learn how to maneuver in this crazy patchwork quilt of absurd and confusing racial notions that would marginalize their existence and make them the target for every miscreant on either side of the race and color divide. This was to have great impact on the brothers, as they each found their own personal coping mechanism for the deprivation, poverty, hostility and prejudice that circumscribed their life in Indiana. Unfortunately, they ultimately each took divergent paths. The author would seek legitimate work and higher education as a way to forge ahead in life, while Mike would seek solace in the lure of easy money, easy women, and life in the fast lane, a choice that would end in personal tragedy for him. The book clearly delineates the fact that, in the nineteen fifties, there were two Americas that existed side by side. One America was born of privilege and opportunity reserved for Whites. The other America was one of repression and lack of opportunity reserved for Blacks. Clearly, those who were defined as Black but wished to pass for White did not do so because of racial hatred. They did so as a way of bypassing a hated system that could so circumscribe someone's potential and ability to seek a better way of life. Who is White? Who is Black? These are questions that should generally be unnecessary. The response should be, "Who cares?". The author focuses on his early life, the part that evidently caused him so much pain, while skimming on the latter part of his life. It would have been interesting to have spent some additional time on the latter part, to see how those early experiences affected or shaped the man he was to become and is today. Still, this is an intriguing memoir that is written by someone who has lived in these two Americas and endured. It is a testament to the resiliency of the human spirit.
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Summary: it is an outsanding book
Review: THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE READ. IT NOTONLY ADDRESS RACE ISSUES, IT ALSO ENCOURAGE ONE TO SET GOALS AND BE DETERMATE TO ACHIEVE THEM. IT DOES'T MATTER IF YOU ARE FROM LOW INCOME FAMILIES, IF YOU ARE WILLING TO WORK HARD YOUR DREAM WILL BE ACHIEVED.
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Summary: Totally engrossing - Everyone should read it
Review: This is one of the very best books I have ever read. I could not put it down. The amazing bonus is that it is also true and gives tremendous insight into being "colored" in America. I wish that all teenagers would read it. The insight it offers is invaluable. It has a lot of adult themes, but I am going to give it to my 15 year old to read this summer. After all, it all actually happened to a teenager. An interesting sidenote: I came across this book because several of my friends were students of Greg Williams when he was a law professor at Iowa. They loved him as a professor and a person.
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Summary: What a story!
Review: This is one of those stories that stay with you, long after you read it. It is a book that everyone should read - no matter his or her age or background. Gregory Howard Williams writes a riveting story of his childhood experience, when society sees him as a White, then black person. The personalities in this memoir are touching, from Williams's father who was unable to deal with demons of his own, to the author and the rest of his family. Most especially, I loved reading about Miss Dora, the elderly woman who opened her heart and home to the author and his brother and played an important part in helping Mr. Williams become successful despite all the odds against him. Gregory Howard Williams has led a harsh, mesmerizing, sorrowful, incredible, yet triumphant life on the color line. Fafa Demasio
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Summary: Crossover World
Review: Very few people in America could have imagined a life like Greg Williams had. His life and experiences were so unique that there couldn't have been a more appropriate title than "Life on the Color Line." The blatant racism he encounters all through his childhood and teenage years while trying to just grow-up and be a normal kid is something that American should be ashamed of when remembering this time in our history. Anyone that thinks racism wasn't THAT bad back then should read this book, reading about his perspective should definitely change their mind. Greg started growing up as a young white boy in Virginia. His life was pretty normal for him and his "white" family at that time. His father successfully passed as white, even though he had black blood running through his veins. He had a couple of successful business ventures, the most notable of which was a booming cafe/diner, which of course adherred to the laws of segregation. Greg's mother was white in the true sense of the term, and she seemed to care for her children deeply as any mother should. Everything was perfect for Greg and his family until misfortune hits and the veil is pulled off the charade of his father's false life. In a poetic justice type of moment the father's life in Virginia is devastated and shaken literally back to his roots. It looks initially like Greg and his brother Mike will stay with their mother in Virginia, but they have to tag along with their father back to Indiana where all 3 of their lives are changed forever. Back in Muncie, Indiana, the book almost splits into 3 separate interesting stories: Greg's life, his brother Mike's life, and the father's. Their struggles bring a new meaning to tough times. Greg and his brother now have to blend into the black community which isn't easy, all while they are summarily rejected by the white community, and most painful of all an apparent rejection by their mother. There are a lot of negatives in their lives now dealing with their living situation, and ... people which are almost laughable. One situation that stands out are the two school officals that get upset at his expressing any interest in white girls, but then the same people are angry when he is marching with a black girl during graduation. However, through all the negativity there is one person that shows how powerful Christian love can be as she adopts them and tries to keep them on the right path. Greg and Mike's experiences and ongoing fight with racism hardly let you put the book down. I couldn't wait to see how they were going to handle each new situation. Once in a while there is a true story comes along that rivals any fiction, this is one of them!
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Summary: Provocative, Puzzling... American
Review: Williams tells us a story uniquely American -- one that emphasizes, by daily grappling with personal turmoil, the absurdity of race as a social invention. While the classification of race more often than not is strictly arbitrary, its consequences for an individual life are far from that. Williams looks "white," but his father is a light-skinned black who had fostered the lie that he is of Italian descent. All this changes when a turn of bad luck dashes his business ventures and marriage to pieces. Sensing that he cannot take care of his sons alone, "Buster" takes them to live with extended family relatives in Muncie. There, Greg and his brother do not merely discover the truth, they experience how the truth can turn a world of white priviledge inside out -- and hurt like hell. The boys are constantly made painfully aware of the consequences of race, as they find challenges in coping with scorn from both sides of the racial divide. Greg goes on to overcome the obstacles, and one must admire his sheer force of will. Mike, his younger brother, lives an altogether different story, succumbing to one temptation after another. In all of this, the awareness of race sears their minds like a hot poker. At the conclusion of this book, one really does attain a deeper appreciation for the nonsensical underpinnings of America's preoccupation with race. This is personal biography that goes beyond self-indulgence, exploring a wider social landscape that we all take part in and take responsibililty for. Insightful storytelling of the highest order -- highly recommended.
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