Hunter was also an African - American. After both the marriages Ruth had twelve half Black, half Jewish children. .
Along the description of Ruth's life were the trials and tribulations that James and his siblings had to go through. James and his family had to deal with the discrimination of Whites, while going to an all-White school. They had to deal with the fact their family were poor, therefore they had the bare necessities. At one point James went to live with his older sister away from home because he was not attending school and getting into trouble. James experienced a lot when he would visit his sister, including a man being killed.
Many of the concepts that were presented in "Ethnicity and Race" and "Race and Ethnicity in the United States" were noticed throughout "The Color of Water". The constructionist approach is clearly demonstrated throughout the book. The essence of constructionist approach is that a "person's ethnic identity changes over time as the forces that impinge on them change, and as the claims made by both group members and others change as well" (Cornell & Hartmann, p. 74). .
The constructionist approach was demonstrated starting with Ruth being born as an Orthodox Jew. As she got older, she realized she did not like that religion. She married two Black men, even though she knew her father despised them. She integrated their faith as her own. Ruth lived with her family in Black neighborhoods and had Black friends. She left the life of Orthodox behind her. .
Race became an important aspect of life, because society put importance to it. This is the social construction of race. When people such as Hitler put importance on the "Jewish race", this concerned to Nazi camps killing million of Jewish people (Shaefer, p.12). There is a belief that certain races are superior to others. "Race is significant only because people have given it significance" (Shaefer, p.12). .
The social construction of race was illustrated throughout the book on a couple different occasions.