Synopses & Reviews
A reckoning with the way we choose to see and define ourselves, Self-Portrait in Black and White is the searching story of one American family's multigenerational transformation from what is called black to what is assumed to be white. Thomas Chatterton Williams, the son of a "black" father from the segregated South and a "white" mother from the West, spent his whole life believing the dictum that a single drop of "black blood" makes a person black. This was so fundamental to his self-conception that he'd never rigorously reflected on its foundations — but the shock of his experience as the black father of two extremely white-looking children led him to question these long-held convictions.
It is not that he has come to believe that he is no longer black or that his daughter is white, Williams notes. It is that these categories cannot adequately capture either of them — or anyone else, for that matter. Beautifully written and bound to upset received opinions on race, Self-Portrait in Black and White is an urgent work for our time.
Review
"Regardless of whether readers agree with his conclusions, these essays are intellectually rigorous, written in fluid prose, and frequently exhilarating." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
Review
"...almost the very definition of thought-provoking, asking readers to reconsider race from every angle. Chatterton-Williams meets his every provocation with searching questions and reasoned thought. And he ends with hope." Booklist
Review
"Provocative in its review of and reflections on race and racism amid continuing de facto segregation, this work argues that personal identity does not exist as a checked box." Library Journal
Review
"A standout memoir that digs into vital contemporary questions of race and self-image — among the most relevant, "What is proximity to the idea of whiteness worth and what does color cost?...An insightful, indispensable memoir." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
About the Author
Thomas Chatterton Williams, author of Losing My Cool and a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine, is a 2019 New America Fellow and the recipient of a Berlin Prize. He lives in Paris with his wife and children.