The youth of James his mother and her abusive father, McBride identifies the racism of the South in 1940s. With mentions of his past he highlights the racial segregations in order to someone a more equal way of life. The racial segregation begins as he questions his identity wondering why his mom is white and he is black. When James goes to the bus to take him to summer camp and the kid shakes his father’s hand in a “hip” way and then says his dad is a Black Panther James yells for his mother then punches the other kid in the face which emphasizes his fear for his white mother’s safety due to his exposure of the Black Panther group being violent against whites. At the store James McBride buys a carton of milk, which turns out to be sour, but the merchant won’t take it back due to racism. This causes Ruth to get into a fight with the merchant and for James to continue to question society and racism.
The relationship between Peter and Ruth had to be held very secret because if anyone found out the white folks and her father would have disowned and beat Ruth and killed Peter. Back then if a black guy was seen looking at a women or been with a white women, the KKK or any white folk would tie the black men to a wagon, dragged around town and been tossed in a lake and left too die or until the crabs ate them. Ruth left Suffolk after her graduation. She moved to new York with her aunt Mary o work at her factory. She stayed with her grandma while she worked. After sometime she quit at the factory and went to Harlem to go look for a job as a ticket clerk or an usher at the time. she had no luck one manager from a movie theaters didn’t give her a job because she was WHITE. she looked all over Harlem and stopped at a barber shop and the store said "manicurist wanted". The owner gave a job immediately.
In some ways Ruth and James