One afternoon as we walked home from the bus stop, I asked mommy why she didn't look like the other mother. Explain

As a child, James notices his mother is white while the other mothers are black. With the straight forward innocence of a child, James wants to know why she looks different from the other mothers and even himself. Ruth answers, "Educate your mind. School is important.....forget their mothers....you remember school." For James's mother, education was the key to all these questions.