What does James learn about himself through finding out about hat do we learn about ourselves by understanding more about our parents?

James found out that he was technically Jewish because his mother was born a Jew and he also found out that his grandfather hated blacks which was a little ironic considering Ruth ended up having 12 black children. I think by asking our parents about where they're from, how they're raised, etc. and understanding those things, we can learn a lot about our heritage and where our ancestors and grandparents are from and how they lived and worked. For example, I found out a couple of years ago that my family has German, Irish and Dutch  backgrounds and it surprised me because I had never known that I was part German, Irish and Dutch. This is what James learns about his background and how we learn more about ourselves through our parents past.