Ruby Pearsall

Ruby Pearsall is one of two central characters. She is a high school student with the opportunity to obtain a college scholarship through the prestigious We Rise program. If she were to be awarded the scholarship, she would be the first person in her family to attend college.

Ruby was born to an unwed mother. Her father was a light-skinned Black family who denied their son would ever be interested in Inez. Since Inez was so poor, she was forced to give her daughter to her mother to care for.

When Ruby is seventeen, she falls in love with Shimmy, the son of her aunt’s Jewish landlords. It is illegal for Jews and Blacks to marry and even their dating relationship would be scorned so they are forced to sneak around. Even before Ruby became pregnant with Shimmy’s baby, she knew that their relationship could...