The Color of My Mother

THE COLOR OF MY MOTHER In 1935 Alabama, eighteen-year-old Sarah Mayfield finds a dying white infant abandoned behind a segregated hospital. Despite the deadly risks of a Black woman raising a white child in the Jim Crow South, she chooses love over safety—a decision that will define both their lives forever. Thirty-eight years later, Elijah Shepherd Mayfield has built a shipping empire in Harlem alongside the remarkable woman he calls Mama. Sarah transformed herself from an uneducated domestic worker into a sophisticated businesswoman, becoming his true partner in every sense. Together, they've created a family bound not by blood, but by sacrifice, loyalty, and unconditional love. But when Elijah's wealthy birth relatives suddenly emerge from Alabama's fallen aristocracy, everything changes. Rebecca and Henry Whitmore arrive with seductive promises of heritage, connections, and the social status that comes with "real" family. As they systematically plant seeds of doubt about his humble origins, Elijah begins to question whether love alone is enough—or if blood ultimately calls stronger than choice. When the Whitmores' desperation turns to blackmail and their true motives are revealed, Elijah must make an impossible decision: embrace the family that abandoned him for the privileges they offer, or defend the woman who saved his life against people willing to destroy her to claim him. Set against the backdrop of racial tension from the Jim Crow South to 1970s Harlem, The Color of My Mother is a sweeping saga about the true meaning of family. It's a story of a mother's fierce love, a son's ultimate loyalty, and the revolutionary idea that the family you choose can be stronger than the family you're born into. A powerful exploration of love versus blood, sacrifice versus privilege, and the bonds that make us truly family.