The Color of Water Characters & Character Analysis

The Color of Water Important People

Ruth Shilsky McBride Jordan

Born Ruchel Dwajra Zylska, Ruth Shilsky arrived in the United States when she was two years old. Ruth was the second of three children. Her father was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and her mother was crippled from polio.

She moved around a lot as a young child before her family finally settled in Suffolk, Virginia, where her father ran a grocery store. Ruth suffered abuse from her father and lost her brother in World War II. She had only one friend in Suffolk and was mostly treated as an outcast because of her religion.

As a young adult, she went to New York City to live with her grandmother and aunts. She met and married Andrew McBride, a Christian black man who worked in her aunt's leather factory. Her family disowned her and her mother passed away around this time. She put her past behind her and focused on taking...
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