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

Williams paints race relations in Muncie, Indiana in the 1950s and 1960s as fraught with intimidation, violence, and an incredible disparity of opportunity. Throughout the book, Muncie’s Black citizens claim that the situation is worse in the southern states than in Indiana. To what extent have race relations changed since then, and to what extent are they the same? If they’ve changed, in what way? Would today’s Black citizens in Muncie say that things have changed?

Williams portrays himself as a child who obeys his parents, even his father’s ridiculous, drunken demands. However, Williams sometimes resists: For example, he stops riding along when his father drives drunk; he resists entreaties to join the church; when told to avoid white girls, he pursues them; and when told he can’t take advanced math, he asks his father to meet with the assistant principal. Was Williams a compliant child, interested in pleasing adults around him, or more of a contrarian? Are compliant children or contrarians more likely to be high achievers?

Although his sons are only 9 and 10 years old, Tony forces them to find work to supplement what Sallie and then Dora can provide. Does he have no other recourse? Given that their jobs are so limited, couldn’t Tony have worked several of them himself? Why didn’t those who provided work for the boys ask Tony to do the work instead? Can such child labor happen today?