The Arithmetic of Color

The Arithmetic of Color is the biography of Tom Johnson, a man of mixed race who lived from 1871 to 1929. Based on a true story meticulously researched, it is written as a novel because of its dramatic character. Johnson’s life is at the center of the American experience. A tri-racial man of spirit and talent, Johnson knew poverty, middle class success, and the near promise of extreme wealth; he also knew redemption, returning to the woman he loved after serving seventeen years of a life sentence in Leavenworth Prison. The Arithmetic of Color captures the complexity of race, class, and love in America at the turn of the twentieth century, and speaks to our own time as a reminder of our shared humanity.