James McBride, award-winning writer, composer and saxophonist, visited Milton Academy on Wednesday, January 12, as the 2005 Dr. Martin Luther King Speaker. Realistic, insightful and humorous, Mr. McBride connected with students whom he urged to think, to question, to read, and to challenge the ubiquitous propaganda.

Drawing on rich life lessons to illustrate his ideas, James shared his family life, educational experiences and professional music career with the students. James' memoir, The Color of Water, which remained on the New York Times Bestseller List for two years, has been translated into more than a dozen languages, and has become an American classic read in colleges and high schools. It is the autobiographical account of his mother, a white Jewish woman from Poland who raised 12 black children in New York City and sent each to college.

Noting that Martin Luther King’s key relevance to the world was as a moral standard of excellence, James helped students understand the power of Martin Luther King in his world. He encouraged students to “learn how to fail,” as well as to succeed—in other words, to “grow up in ways that are normal.” That said, he told students that the world is depending upon their ability to think, ask questions and respond. “Where decency lives is with every single one of you. It’s not about committees,” he said. “If you want to change the world, you must do it individually, and then the moral collective moves forward.”

James McBride is a former staff writer for The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and People. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times and Rolling Stone. He is the recipient of the 1997 Anisfield Wolf Book Award, as well as several awards for his work as a composer in musical theatre, including the American Arts and Letters Richard Rodgers Award, The ASCAP Richard Rodgers Horizons Award and the American Music Theatre Festival’s Stephen Sondheim Award.

He has written songs for Anita Baker, Grover Washington, Jr., Gary Burton, Silver Burdett Music Textbooks and for the PBS television character “Barney.” James also conducts a 12-piece R&B jazz band. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College, having studied composition at The Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and has received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Whitman College and The College of New Jersey.

James’ newest book, Miracle at St. Anna, which the Baltimore Sun called a “searingly, soaringly beautiful novel,” has been dubbed “a lyrical, touching fable about the miraculous power of love” by Publishers Weekly. The book, already climbing the bestseller list, is the story of a black American soldier who befriends a six-year-old Italian boy during World War II.