Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black

Throughout his book, Williams chronicles many incidents of racial prejudice and disparity. From his earliest memories, when he plays with Black children around his father’s tavern, he’s aware that the two groups are distinct. The meaning of this distinction—and the inculcation of Williams and his brother into the mindset of automatic prejudice—becomes apparent when Tony reveals to the brothers that they’re Black and both boys react with shock and dismay, Mike complaining, “‘I don’t wanta be colored. I don’t wanta be colored. We can’t go swimmin’ or skatin’” (33). Of course, the Black population was aware of this bias and considered it in all their interactions, as when Tony is stabbed and they call for an ambulance but tend to the wound in case it doesn’t come. His Black employee, Percy, reminds Mary to tell the emergency operator that a white man has been injured, fearing that the ambulance won’t respond to a life-threatening assault on a Black man.

Williams documents the reality that Black citizens discriminate against white citizens as well. He and his brother are pale enough to pass as white. When they attempt to interact with Black children in the African American neighborhoods of Muncie, they’re verbally and physically attacked.