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

Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black, published in 1995, is an autobiographical account of the childhood and adolescence of the American lawyer and educator Gregory Howard Williams. An exceptional achiever throughout his life, Williams devoted 10 years to penning this memoir that centers around his being raised to believe he’s white, only to be told as a 10-year-old boy that he’s of African American descent.

The book won the 1995 Los Angeles Times Book Award. It has received extensive praise from journalists, the legal community, and civil rights authors and is an often-used text in Afro-American studies. (Afro-American studies is sometimes also known as African American studies or Black studies). Williams candidly discusses the stark realities that he and his younger brother faced as light-skinned African Americans when—against the backdrop of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s—they dealt with prejudice from both white and Black citizens of Muncie, Indiana. Williams vividly details the cast of characters who populated his upbringing and the lasting effect of each on his life. Each day of his youth provoked an inner struggle between surrendering to despair and holding onto dreams of a better life.