Ruths+Summary

 Ruth, James' mother led a difficult life in her younger years. She was born an Orthodox Jew in April of 1921, in Poland. Her real name was Ruchel Dwajra Zylska. Her parents changed her name, when they moved to America, to Rachel Deborah Shilsky. But she got rid of that name when she turned nineteen and left her family for good. To herself Rachel Shilsky was dead.

In her family, when she was still around them, there was her mother and father, and two siblings Dee Dee and Sam. Her and her family arrived in America August 23rd, 1923 on a steamer called the Austergeist. At first they lived with her grandparents in Manhattan. They had strict dietary regulations. They could only eat meals that were Kosher prepared. Ruth’s father was a preacher. A traveling preacher at that, so Ruth and her family traveled a lot. They lived in many places such as Glens Falls, Belleville, Port Jervis, Springfield, and Dover.

The one place they stayed for good was Suffolk, Virginia. It was a very segregated town. There was a black place and a white place for anything you could think of. The people in Suffolk didn’t really like Jews though. A while past, and her dad Tateh bought a barn and made it into a store. He made Ruth work there as well as the rest of their family. All he really cared about was making money.



After a while Ruth kept running into this young black man named Peter. They were together and she ended up getting pregnant. Her mother had suspected something, and sent ruth to live with her grandmother in New York for the summer. She ended up getting an abortion. When she came back to Suffolk after the summer had ended, she talked to Peter, he said he loved her. But it had turned out he was unfaithful to her, and was about to get married to another woman. Ruth then left Suffolk   for good.

She ended up living with her Grandmother in New York again, who then lived with her Aunt. She worked in her aunts factory where she met James’s father, Dennis. But she hated working for her aunt, so she eventually found another job being a manicurist. She worked for a man named Rocky, and moved closer to Harlem. When she told Dennis about her new acquaintance with Rocky, he told her that he was trying to turn her into a prostitute. So Ruth cut off all communication with Rocky and moved back into her grandmother’s house.

 Eventually Ruth and Dennis start up a romance and move in together on  129th Street. She was introduced to his family, and at first the color of her skin shocked them, but eventually she was welcomed with open arms. Ruth found out her mother was sick and she returned to Suffolk to try and help. Her father had been having and affair and wanted a divorce. And her sister Dee Dee begged Ruth to come back home to Virginia . So she promised she would stay home, but ends up breaking her promise.

Ruths grandmother died and ruths mother is deeply upset. Dee Dee again pleaded with Ruth, asking her to stay. Her father Tateh also asked her to stay many times. He even accused her of going off to marry a black man, and if that be the case, for her to never return home again. She left. Eventually ruth found strength from Dennis. She found the feelings of love, and faith.  [] []