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Beyond the Whiteness - PB
“I am Black,” Jane Lazarre’s son tells her. “I have a Jewish mother, but I am not ‘biracial.’ That term is meaningless to me.” She understands, she says—but he tells her, gently, that he doesn’t think so, that she can’t understand this completely because she is white. Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness is Jane Lazarre’s memoir of coming to terms with this painful truth, of learning to look into the nature of whiteness in a way that passionately informs the connections between herself and her family. A moving account of life in a biracial family, this book is a powerful meditation on motherhood and racism in America, the story of an education into the realities of African American culture.
Lazarre has spent over twenty-five years living in a Black American family, married to an African American man, birthing and raising two sons. A teacher of African American literature, she has been influenced by an autobiographical tradition that is characterized by a speaking out against racism and a grounding of that expression in one’s own experience—an overlapping of the stories of one’s own life and the world. Like the stories of that tradition, Lazarre’s is a recovery of memories that come together in this book with a new sense of meaning. From a crucial moment in which consciousness is transformed, to recalling and accepting the nature and realities of whiteness, each step describes an aspect of her internal and intellectual journey. Recalling events that opened her eyes to her sons’ and husband’s experience as Black Americans—an operation, turned into a horrific nightmare by a doctor’s unconscious racism or the jarring truths brought home by a visit to an exhibit on slavery at the Richmond Museum of the Confederacy—or her own revealing missteps, Lazarre describes a movement from silence to voice, to a commitment to action, and to an appreciation of the value of a fluid, even ambiguous, identity. It is a coming of age that permits a final retelling of family history and family reunion.
With her skill as a novelist and her experience as a teacher, Jane Lazarre has crafted a narrative as compelling as it is telling. It eloquently describes the author’s delight at being accepted into her husband’s family and attests to the power of motherhood. And as personal as this story is, it is a remarkably incisive account of how perceptions of racial difference lie at the heart of the history and culture of America.
Lazarre has spent over twenty-five years living in a Black American family, married to an African American man, birthing and raising two sons. A teacher of African American literature, she has been influenced by an autobiographical tradition that is characterized by a speaking out against racism and a grounding of that expression in one’s own experience—an overlapping of the stories of one’s own life and the world. Like the stories of that tradition, Lazarre’s is a recovery of memories that come together in this book with a new sense of meaning. From a crucial moment in which consciousness is transformed, to recalling and accepting the nature and realities of whiteness, each step describes an aspect of her internal and intellectual journey. Recalling events that opened her eyes to her sons’ and husband’s experience as Black Americans—an operation, turned into a horrific nightmare by a doctor’s unconscious racism or the jarring truths brought home by a visit to an exhibit on slavery at the Richmond Museum of the Confederacy—or her own revealing missteps, Lazarre describes a movement from silence to voice, to a commitment to action, and to an appreciation of the value of a fluid, even ambiguous, identity. It is a coming of age that permits a final retelling of family history and family reunion.
With her skill as a novelist and her experience as a teacher, Jane Lazarre has crafted a narrative as compelling as it is telling. It eloquently describes the author’s delight at being accepted into her husband’s family and attests to the power of motherhood. And as personal as this story is, it is a remarkably incisive account of how perceptions of racial difference lie at the heart of the history and culture of America.
166 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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434 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 4, 2024
Llegit per l'assignatura Gender Studies (Women's Literature in English).
December 11, 2009
A very difficult, thought-provoking book. It is difficult for me to hear or read about the struggles that Black people (and other people of color) have that I don't have simply because I am white. It makes me uncomfortable to think others aren't treated the same way I am, and it makes me uneasy to know that I don't even realize it until it's pointed out to me. I don't want to be racist, but I fear my ignorance leads me to unintentional racism.
The author's story of watching her boys (now grown) grow up as Black children and then young adults is touching. She is admirable for her strength - and also for her weakness. It is interesting to know that this woman, who's been married to a Black man for years and raised two children to become successful Black men, still struggles with her own whiteness.
This book is just the door to my awareness of whiteness opening a bit. I look forward to learning and reading more about this important, though difficult, subject.
The author's story of watching her boys (now grown) grow up as Black children and then young adults is touching. She is admirable for her strength - and also for her weakness. It is interesting to know that this woman, who's been married to a Black man for years and raised two children to become successful Black men, still struggles with her own whiteness.
This book is just the door to my awareness of whiteness opening a bit. I look forward to learning and reading more about this important, though difficult, subject.
September 3, 2008
This book covers a sensitive topic that is of the utmost importance. Understanding the racism that is embedded in European-American culture (as well as in other places) is not only important but absolutely necessary if we hope to live in a harmonious and loving world.
June 24, 2024
The reverse of "The Color of Water" and yet not as inpsiring. Perhaps because it was written by an academic. I found w her race was the only focal point, and race primarily as a historic marker. Even as she believes her sons do/should find their identity in race/culture, she admits that hse has not. And she does not hear her students who disagree with her. Yet I admire her fundamental believe that "you speak out against even the smallest injustice"
March 14, 2025
Las memorias de una mujer blanca de dos hijos negros. Lazarre, judía con el peso del holocausto marcando su familia, pone el foco en esas situaciones de racismo que las personas con privilegios no vemos. Ella, esposa y madre, las analiza añadiendo contexto histórico. Y nos invita una y otra vez a buscar libros de autores negros de Estados Unidos, como Toni Morrison.
December 26, 2018
I enjoyed this book. I felt like the mother worked through a lot of white guilt. Interesting read, and I feel as though she grew through the book.
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March 2, 2016"[An] illuminating book . . . Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness offer[s] invaluable insights not just for those working to raise children in biracial families, but for all who would like to understand the notion of whiteness in order to see beyond it and reach for fairness."
— Boyd Zenner Women's Review of Books
"This is a passionate, provocative, and moving narrative that should be on every American's reading list. Jane Lazarre writes from an angle of vision that seems completely missing from the fractured and deeply troubled discourse about race in America. Her honesty and courage in telling this story is as instructive as it is praiseworthy, compelling us to think and feel differently."
— Sekou Sundiata, author of The Circle is Unbroken Is a Hard Bop
"[Lazarre] . . . moves the reader. . . . When she writes, 'I wish I could become Black for my sons,' she delves straight into the heart of her dilemma."
— Helen Schulman Elle
"A terrifically courageous piece of work. I cannot think of another text written by a white woman that is like it, and I cannot imagine one that would address these complex issues with greater lucidity, grace, intelligence, and love."
— Claire Bond Potter, The New School
"A beautifully written, deeply thoughtful journey into the worlds of self and other."
Kirkus Reviews
"Lazarre cuts close to the bone in this penetrating 'story of the education of an American woman.'"
— Mary Carroll Booklist
"[A] compelling story of one mother's honest efforts to reach across the chasm between black and white America to comfort and guide her sons as they navigate their way to adulthood and self sufficiency."
— Gregory Howard Williams Los Angeles Times Book Review
"A novelist, essayist, and teacher, Lazarre presents her troubling but clear eyed vision of her life and times with incisiveness and grace."
— John Gregory Brown Chicago Tribune
"The inimitable eloquence of Lazarre's Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness defies facile summation."
— Kwame Okoampahoofe Jr. New York Amsterdam News
"A compassionate, compelling outpouring of anecdotal family stories and confessionals . . . that fine tune the reader's awareness to racism in everyday life. Lazarre's voice is artful and measured, like a friend's, and her prose is thick with images . . . Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness provides substantial food for thought for both white and black perspectives on the murky issue of race in America."
Publishers Weekly
"Powerful, moving, and beautifully written. . ."
— Richard L. Zweigenhaft Greensboro News & Record
"This insightful Jewish mother opens our eyes to the pervasiveness of racism in our culture—a reality that Jews and other whites can easily ignore."
— Rabbi Rachel Cowan, author of Mixed Blessings: Marriage between Christians and Jews
— Boyd Zenner Women's Review of Books
"This is a passionate, provocative, and moving narrative that should be on every American's reading list. Jane Lazarre writes from an angle of vision that seems completely missing from the fractured and deeply troubled discourse about race in America. Her honesty and courage in telling this story is as instructive as it is praiseworthy, compelling us to think and feel differently."
— Sekou Sundiata, author of The Circle is Unbroken Is a Hard Bop
"[Lazarre] . . . moves the reader. . . . When she writes, 'I wish I could become Black for my sons,' she delves straight into the heart of her dilemma."
— Helen Schulman Elle
"A terrifically courageous piece of work. I cannot think of another text written by a white woman that is like it, and I cannot imagine one that would address these complex issues with greater lucidity, grace, intelligence, and love."
— Claire Bond Potter, The New School
"A beautifully written, deeply thoughtful journey into the worlds of self and other."
Kirkus Reviews
"Lazarre cuts close to the bone in this penetrating 'story of the education of an American woman.'"
— Mary Carroll Booklist
"[A] compelling story of one mother's honest efforts to reach across the chasm between black and white America to comfort and guide her sons as they navigate their way to adulthood and self sufficiency."
— Gregory Howard Williams Los Angeles Times Book Review
"A novelist, essayist, and teacher, Lazarre presents her troubling but clear eyed vision of her life and times with incisiveness and grace."
— John Gregory Brown Chicago Tribune
"The inimitable eloquence of Lazarre's Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness defies facile summation."
— Kwame Okoampahoofe Jr. New York Amsterdam News
"A compassionate, compelling outpouring of anecdotal family stories and confessionals . . . that fine tune the reader's awareness to racism in everyday life. Lazarre's voice is artful and measured, like a friend's, and her prose is thick with images . . . Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness provides substantial food for thought for both white and black perspectives on the murky issue of race in America."
Publishers Weekly
"Powerful, moving, and beautifully written. . ."
— Richard L. Zweigenhaft Greensboro News & Record
"This insightful Jewish mother opens our eyes to the pervasiveness of racism in our culture—a reality that Jews and other whites can easily ignore."
— Rabbi Rachel Cowan, author of Mixed Blessings: Marriage between Christians and Jews
November 12, 2024
Odio, por muchos motivos, cuando se usa el adjetivo "imprescindible" para definir un libro. Pero no puedo describir este libro sin decir que ha sido imprescindible para mí, por lo que admiro a Jane Lazarre y porque es increíble su capacidad auténtica de hablar de algo así de esta manera, su lucidez, respeto y precisión con las palabras han sido, otra vez, todo un aprendizaje.
«Todo eso es mi historia y de todo eso vengo yo. Cuando camino por el mundo de los blancos, soy una mujer blanca que suele mimetizarse, a quien nadie mira con miedo, odio o suspicacia cuando camina por las hermosas playas de Nueva Inglaterra o del norte de California, unos lugares donde los cuerpos morenos de mis hijos enseguida resaltan de un modo distinto al mío, y su color de piel, de un bello e intenso color tostado, contrastan con el agua y la arena. Soy una mujer del montón protegida por su piel blanca –que, como ya sabemos, a pesar de no existir, es muy conocida, visible y poderosa-, situada en la preciosa invisibilidad que otorga una pertenencia aparente y sujeta a la transformadora vergüenza que implica ser consciente de ello».
«Todo eso es mi historia y de todo eso vengo yo. Cuando camino por el mundo de los blancos, soy una mujer blanca que suele mimetizarse, a quien nadie mira con miedo, odio o suspicacia cuando camina por las hermosas playas de Nueva Inglaterra o del norte de California, unos lugares donde los cuerpos morenos de mis hijos enseguida resaltan de un modo distinto al mío, y su color de piel, de un bello e intenso color tostado, contrastan con el agua y la arena. Soy una mujer del montón protegida por su piel blanca –que, como ya sabemos, a pesar de no existir, es muy conocida, visible y poderosa-, situada en la preciosa invisibilidad que otorga una pertenencia aparente y sujeta a la transformadora vergüenza que implica ser consciente de ello».
April 5, 2015
"Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness" is now marked as "read" on my profile, though it's words will long remain in my mind. Lazarre has presented many aspects of racism and of consciousness that in some ways, made an exhausting read, as it brought me to reflect on the ways in which race has pervaded my own life or how its absence has allowed me to live comfortably. I am still not sure what to do with many of the bits of consciousness this book has produced within me, but I found this to be a wonderful memoir of the ways in which the author's personal familial experience brought about racial consciousness and produced a evolutionary and transformative love for those of non-white races and anyone who is marginalized as a result of institutionalized discrimination.
March 21, 2014
It was heartbreaking to read her stories of the racism encountered by her sons and the racism encountered by the whole family when together. But more heartbreaking was the alienation she felt from her own family.
What I wondered throughout, though, was to what degree the family's class buffered what would inevitably be worse if her husband or both of them had not been so socioeconomically elite (at least in adulthood). Her family is clearly at least upper-middle class (some would say it is impossible for a family with a college professor in it to be middle class,of any kind), and I imagine interracial (whatever that means) marriages of the upper-middle class still derive some economic status from their class.
What I wondered throughout, though, was to what degree the family's class buffered what would inevitably be worse if her husband or both of them had not been so socioeconomically elite (at least in adulthood). Her family is clearly at least upper-middle class (some would say it is impossible for a family with a college professor in it to be middle class,of any kind), and I imagine interracial (whatever that means) marriages of the upper-middle class still derive some economic status from their class.
February 15, 2014
Reading this book was like having all of my internal thoughts, and fears, and love laid out on a page. If you are a white person who loves a black person in this f*ed up racist world, you must read this book.
"It is not that we cannot understand each other, but that we presume that understanding too quickly, close the unfamiliar story down with out own intrusive narrating, have no patience or endurance for the difficult times of exile to that wilderness which can often feel lonely and unsafe."
As a side note, I borrowed this book from the library, so if you are ever looking to buy me a gift...
"It is not that we cannot understand each other, but that we presume that understanding too quickly, close the unfamiliar story down with out own intrusive narrating, have no patience or endurance for the difficult times of exile to that wilderness which can often feel lonely and unsafe."
As a side note, I borrowed this book from the library, so if you are ever looking to buy me a gift...
June 22, 2008
I am a mother of a bi-racial son, and there are no words to describe how much I hated this book and the author's pious attitude toward race and how it's perceived in this country. If you're looking for a book dealing with raising children of mixed race, I would highly recommend "The Color of Water" instead, one of my all-time favorite books. Yes, I'm sure I'll be labeled as a just another white woman who "doesn't get it", but so be it.
November 26, 2007
Touching and eye opening memoir by a writer more literary than sociological. Loving view into the heart of family.
February 7, 2008
An incredible read. Should be required reading for everyone. A white mother's story of raising her half-white half-black sons.
March 21, 2011
A book that really made me think about race relations in America. I would recommend it to others interested in the subject.
June 14, 2011
This resonated with me on so many levels and in so many ways.
February 10, 2012
Thoughtful and thought-provoking.
May 9, 2014
Many excellent points - clearly written and a great addition to the library of Racial consciousness.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews