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By Martha S. Jones

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An “assiduous scholar and absorbing writer” (New York Times) confronts the limits of the historian’s craft in this powerful memoir of family, color, and being Black, white, and other in America

Martha S. Jones grew up feeling her Black identity was obvious to all who saw her. But weeks into college, a Black Studies classmate challenged Jones’s right to speak. Suspicious of the color of her skin and the texture of her hair, he confronted her with a question that inspired a lifetime of introspection: “Who do you think you are?”

Now a prizewinning scholar of Black history, Jones delves into her family’s past for answers. In every generation since her great-great-great-grandmother survived enslavement to raise a free family, color determined her ancestors’ lives. But the color line was shifting and jagged, not fixed and straight. Some backed away from it, others skipped along it, and others still were cut deep by its sharp teeth.

Journeying across centuries, from rural Kentucky and small-town North Carolina to New York City and its suburbs, The Trouble of Color is a lyrical, deeply felt meditation on the most fundamental matters of identity, belonging, and family.

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“Martha Jones is one of our country’s greatest historians. Her work has provided us with the tools, the language, and the insight to better understand our collective past. Now, in her book The Trouble of Color, she has turned her historian’s eye towards her own family, and in the process has allowed us to be part of a remarkable journey of discovery. Elegantly written and painstakingly researched, The Trouble of Color has inspired me to look deeper into my own family history. I am so grateful to have this book as a model. I am so grateful that Martha Jones has shared her family’s story with all of us.”
Clint Smith, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of How the Word is Passed
“The Trouble of Color most definitely troubles some supposedly still waters. Martha Jones deftly wraps an engaging, suspenseful story around the complicated story of color and complexion in this empire. I'm most wowed by the playfulness of the prose here. Superb writing. Necessary work.”

Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy

On Sale: Mar 4, 2025
Page Count: 320 pages
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN-13: 9781541601000

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Martha S. Jones

About the Author

Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, professor of history, and a professor at the SNF Agora Institute at the Johns Hopkins University. A prizewinning author and editor of four books, most recently Vanguard, she is past copresident of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians and has contributed to the New York Times, Atlantic, and many other publications. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

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Martha S. Jones

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