New UC president Gregory Williams told the story of his life in the book titled, “Life on the Color Line: The true story of a white boy who discovered he was black”. For one of my classes this past quarter I had to read the book, and write a paper. Below is my entire paper. I suggest reading President Williams’s memoir. It is unforgettable.
Life on the Color Line: Interracial dating
As a child who grew up on both sides of a racially divided America, Gregory Williams found out about what it meant to be black and what it meant to be white in two different places. When he was born to a white mother and half-black father in Virginia Greg had a complexion that allowed him to pass for white, but when Greg, his brother Mike, and his father moved back to Muncie, Indiana, Greg learned that he was partially black. Greg grew up from age ten on in a racially hostile town. Throughout his story Life on the Color Line, Williams describes how he was treated differently because of his race. Even though he appeared white, his black heritage denied him the opportunity to numerous things in Muncie.
One big thing that Greg was denied from doing as he aged was dating white girls. At numerous times in his memoir, Williams points to moments where he secretly met with white classmates that he had a romantic interest in. In Muncie, as well as numerous other parts of America in the 1950s, it was socially forbidden for whites and blacks to date, or even get married. In fact, back in the 1850s many states passed antimiscegenation laws that made interracial marriages illegal (Desmond and Emirbayer 2010).
The racism that divided the country back in the 1850s was still around one century later, and Williams found that out as he tried to date white classmates. Still today, some parents discourage their children from dating across color lines. “Some parents, white and nonwhite alike, actively discourage their children from interracial dating,” say Matthew Desmond and Mustafa Emirbayer (2010).
In middle school Williams learned that it was socially taboo for black boys and white girls to date. “Wilson’s racial tension was fueled by older white dropouts, who hovered around the school eager for an opportunity to prove their manhood. They stood ready to enforce the rule: ‘Black boys do not talk to, flirt with, or date white girls’ ” (163). The fact that Williams refers to this social idea as a “rule” shows how binding the racial lines were in that day. These young, white, male students were out to prove that white girls were their girls. White girls in Muncie did not belong to Greg and his other black friends. This was evident to Greg when he went to a dance with a very dark skinned classmate of his later on in the story.
Greg went to a dance party with a friend of his named Mayme. He points to the racism in the city, by noting that, “Then I realized—they were shocked to see a “white” boy on South Madison Street with a black girl” (166). Since Greg’s complexion did not make him seem like he was black, even though his father was, to passersby it seemed that Greg was a white boy dating a black girl. In Muncie this was a very unusual sight.
After the date, Greg sits on a park bench and thinks to himself, “I wrestled with the fact that Muncie would not permit me to date white girls, and apparently couldn’t tolerate seeing me with black girls either…My very existence made people uncomfortable and shattered too many racial taboos. Dating for me was going to be like swimming in shark-infested waters. I would have to give it up.” (166)
Greg became disillusioned by dating because he felt he couldn’t win no matter what he did. If he dated a white girl he might get in trouble since he was seen as black, but if he dated a black girl, his outward appearance—that of being white—would make him seem like an outcast in the white community. These incidents show Greg first-hand that dating for him would be complicated in the city he called home. But, little did he realize that his interest in white girls would lead to threats against him and his friends.
On a number of occasions, Williams and some of his black friends were threatened just for talking to white female classmates. At one point in high school at Muncie Central, Greg decides to help a classmate open her locker. The young girl’s brother stopped Greg the next day in the hallway and stated, “I tell you what, nigger, if you say one more word to her I’m gonna kick your black ass” (219). Greg had attempted to persuade him earlier in the conversation that he could talk to anyone he wanted, but that idea doesn’t fly with the kid, who was a football teammate of Greg’s, oddly enough. Greg learned that even trying to be nice to a fellow student, not attempting to engage in any kind of romance, subjected him to verbal abuse. It was when the verbal abuse turned into threats that Greg decided he was going to challenge the status quo.
He walked up to the same girl after her brother threatened Greg and attempted to hold a conversation with her. She sprinted down the hallway. After that incident, Greg learned that his dealings with white women might need to slow down.
He recounts that evening:“That night after midnight I awoke to the sound of glass breaking and tires squealing. Racing downstairs, I found Miss Dora standing in the living room with a brick in her hands. Broken glass from the front window covered the floor and Miss Dora’s sitting chair. She held the brick up to my face and said, “White girls mean trouble!” (219)
Greg had never been threatened like Emmett Till, who was lynched for whistling at a white woman, but he quickly found out that his classmates were not fond of him, a black boy, trying to talk to a white girl. Greg also found out from people in positions of authority that dating white girls would get him into trouble down the road.
Mr. Bennett, one of Greg’s teachers at Wilson Middle School, warns him that dating white girls will only get him into trouble during his life. “You better get it out of your mind that you’re ever going to date any white girls. That kind of thing is just not done in our society. It’s not going to be acceptable in my lifetime or yours, and it will never, ever happen here in Muncie” (182). Mr. Bennett was trying to protect Greg from the kind of trouble he encountered in high school.
Greg receives more advice from his guidance counselor Miss White right after Mr. Bennett tells him to never date white girls. She advises Greg, “Now about this business with Janie. It is simply not acceptable for you or any other Negro boys to socialize with white girls. If you continue this, you are going to create a lot of problems for yourself” (183). Greg is once again disillusioned by the obstacles put in front of him.
Even though the teachers are trying to look out for Greg’s future by telling him that he can get in serious trouble by dating white girls, Greg gets frustrated and angry, even going so far as to say advice he got left him, “badly shaken, confused, and hurt” (183). Even though Greg was discouraged from dating white girls, it didn’t stop him from falling in love when he got to college.
Greg met Sara Whitney his senior year at Muncie Central. Sara had to meet with Greg clandestinely because she was afraid her family would find out she was dating a black boy. “One of the boys who had seen us talking asked her if she had turned into a “nigger lover”. Most of all, though, she was worried about her parents’ reaction” (259). Sara’s family was trapped in the racist actions of the 1950s and ’60s. They knew that if she dated a black boy she was be stigmatized by the racially divided town.
Greg even asked her, “You don’t believe in the ‘Muncie Rules’ do you?” She replied, “Of course I don’t. They’re not fair, but whether they’re right or wrong, they still exist!” Greg answered that with, “They’ll keep on existing if we keep following ‘em!” (259). Greg’s determination to keep dating Sara, even though her family didn’t approve, and neither did the social “rules” of the town, showed that Sara was not afraid to live beyond the racial lines that divided Muncie. In fact, Sara shows courage in trying to maintain a relationship with Greg throughout the last years of high school and into their time at Ball State.
Why did Sara continue to meet with Greg and pursue a relationship with him, when she knew she could get in trouble for it? According to Desmond and Emirbayer (2010), “There are countless reasons why people traverse racial borders to marry, including the simplest and most powerful explanation of all: they found someone to love.” Sara kept seeing Greg because their relationship was very strong, and even though her parents ended up shunning her, she kept pursuing Greg.
Her grandmother kicked Sara out of her home because she felt Sara, “deceived me. I never want to see you again. You have disgraced the family” (269). Obviously Sara felt that her relationship with Greg was more important than the love she received from her family. She reinforced the thoughts of Desmond and Emirbayer fifty years before they wrote their simple assertion. Back when the Beatles were singing, “All you need is love”, Sara Whitney and Greg Williams proved it. They began a relationship that has withstood the test of time and racial boundaries.
Greg Williams found that life on the color line affected love on the color line. He learned the hard way that in Muncie he would have a tough time dating white girls. The social rules of the times forbade him from doing so. And even when his complexion allowed him to pass as white, he received odd glances as he escorted black female dates to dances and parties.
In middle school, teachers told him that he needed to stop dating white girls or it would lead him to trouble. When he got to high school, Greg found this out when he simply helped a classmate at her locker. His actions were taken by the girl’s brother as an attempt to romantically get involved with her. Greg had to wake up to the unfortunate sounds of glass shattering as the white boys of Muncie Central threw a brick through Miss Dora’s window.
Yet, when it came down to finding true love, Greg and his future wife Sara overstepped the racial lines of the times and fell in love. Maybe the Beatles were right; all you need is love.
Sources
Desmond, Matthew and Mustafa Emirbayer. (2010). Racial Domination, Racial Progress: The Sociology of Race in America. New York: McGraw Hill.
Williams, Gregory H. (1995). Life on the Color Line: The true story of a white boy who discovered he was black. New York: The Penguin Group.
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