Secret Daughter “I search for my mother’s face in the mirror and see a stranger.” The book, the Secret Daughter: A Mixed-Race Daughter and the Mother Who Gave Her Away was written by June Cross in 2006. The story is about a young woman who was born in 1954 to Norma Booth, a glamorous white actress, and James “Stump” Cross, a well-known black comedian. When she was around four years old, her mother sent her away to be raised by black friends because she could no longer “pass” as white. This story tells of her survival and her own fierce determination to thrive. Up until June Cross was four years old, she lived with her mother traveling the country for her mother’s aspiring career. When she was growing up she quickly learned that she had so …show more content…
much in common with her mother, yet so little. They had the same shaped hands, the arches in their feet was the same curve, and their toes had similar outlines, and they had the same laugh. However June had folds on her eyes, a pale olive cast of skin, and full lips. When she was a young girl she quickly learned a lot about race before most of her friends and other young children. She knew what it meant to be “too dark to pass,” she understood why little girls her age died in a bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, and most importantly she understood the relationship between skin color and money. Black people earned less money than white people, this was the reason why her white mother wanted to pretend why she was adopted. What she learned as a young girl was what she called the “razor blade of race,” she spent her whole life moving between the black and white “worlds.” At a young age, June became interested in reporting, thrilled by the aspect of asking strangers questions.
June attended Radcliffe College where she received her Bachelor's degree in 1975. After graduating June worked at a number of news sources such as, The Boston Globe, CBS News, The MacNeil/Lehrer Report, and Frontline, covering various stories. In 1983 June won an Emmy for Outstanding Coverage of a Single Breaking News Story about the U.S. invasion of Grenada. June received senior producer credit for Living on the Edge, Mandela, and School Colors, which won the DuPont-Columbia Journalism Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism. Although after all of these accomplishments, June is best known for her documentary about her trauma childhood. Secret Daughter: A Mixed Race Daughter and the Mother Who Gave Her Away, released by PBS in 1996, was the first time it was publicly revealed that June was the daughter of Norma Storch. This documentary won an Emmy as well as a DuPont-Columbia Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism. A few years later, Secret Daughter was turned into a memoir. In 2000, June accepted a teaching position with Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York. She continued to produce a number of captivating reports, including The Old Man and the Storm about a family living in New Orleans after Hurricane
Katrina.
Through her first foster parents, the Dions, were very kind to April, this continued to make April to feel accepted in society, and she would continue to hide her native heritage. She wanted to feel like a white kid, and they made her feel like one.
Danielle Evans’ second story “Snakes” from the collection of short stories, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self depict a biracial girl who has been pressured due to her grandmother’s urge to dominate her. The story pictures her suffering with remarkable plot twist in the end of the story. Evans utilize a profound approach on how to bring readers to closely examine racism implicitly, to make readers recognize the actions may lead to social discrimination and its consequences that are often encountered in our daily life.
Her lasting career was not given to her easily, therefore, creating an inspiring story full of hardships and success. Ever since she was a little girl, her dream was to become a successful and famous dancer. In New York City, when she was trying to fulfill her dream, she was unable to find a job in the theatre department. Instead of being discouraged, she decided to make something good come from it. She choreographed her own routines, created her own costumes, and organized solo recitals for audiences to enjoy. This event led her to the biggest adventure in her life that would later impact the world. She was invited to return back to London to pursue her education in the performing arts, so that she could further improve her talents that would make up her entire career.
Janie’s first discovery about herself comes when she is a child. She is around the age of six when she realizes that she is colored. Janie’s confusion about her race is based on the reasoning that all her peers and the kids she grows up with are white. Janie and her Nanny live in the backyard of the white people that her Nanny works for. When Janie does not recognize herself on the picture that is taken by a photographer, the others find it funny and laughs, leaving Janie feeling humiliated. This racial discovery is not “social prejudice or personal meanness but affection” (Cooke 140). Janie is often teased at school because she lives with the white people and dresses better than the other colored kids. Even though the kids that tease her were all colored, this begins Janie’s experience to racial discrimination.
Her parents who at that time could not understand the choices she made are very happy for their daughter and what she has accomplish. When she left her home at the middle of a fight and never went back. She said,” I had to make my own way” and then lived in a Manhattan dance studio where she was training. Then she got an apartment with some friends in Manhattan Hell’s Kitchen. Since the time she move out of her home she started her showbiz career as a dancer in stage musicals and most notably in her tour to Golden musicals of Broadway and in a Japanese tour. Then she audition to be a fly girl in Fox’s hit comedy “In living Colors,” she beat out 2,000 other contenders in a nation wide competition. Then she cracked into Hollywood and she wanted to make a transition to acting, but she followed Color producer Keenan Ivory Wayans advice to stay with the show for a while before making any attempt to move on.
“The Color of Water” by James McBride is a memoir about him and his mother’s life. In the 1960’s it was strenuously being white living in the South. James was always misled how his mother was white and he was black. For example, in chapter 2 of “The Color of Water” it explains about how James is questioning Ruth’s appearance. “ One afternoon as we walked home from the bus stop, I asked Mommy why she didn’t look like the other mothers. “ Because I’m not them,” she said. “Who are you?” I asked. “I’m your mother.” “…How come you don’t look like me?” She sighed and shrugged. She’d obviously been down this road many times.” (McBride12). This quote clarifies when he was younger; he acknowledged the fact that he was different in terms of color. Even
As a child Janie’s race is something she realizes later, but is still an important part of her life. As a child Janie grew up with a white family, named the Washburns, for whom Nanny worked as a nanny for. It is not until Janie sees herself in a picture with the Washburns children that she realizes she is black, Janie recounts her realization t...
I was late for school, and my father had to walk me in to class so that my teacher would know the reason for my tardiness. My dad opened the door to my classroom, and there was a hush of silence. Everyone's eyes were fixed on my father and me. He told the teacher why I was late, gave me a kiss goodbye and left for work. As I sat down at my seat, all of my so-called friends called me names and teased me. The students teased me not because I was late, but because my father was black. They were too young to understand. All of this time, they thought that I was white, because I had fare skin like them, therefore I had to be white. Growing up having a white mother and a black father was tough. To some people, being black and white is a contradiction in itself. People thought that I had to be one or the other, but not both. I thought that I was fine the way I was. But like myself, Shelby Steele was stuck in between two opposite forces of his double bind. He was black and middle class, both having significant roles in his life. "Race, he insisted, blurred class distinctions among blacks. If you were black, you were just black and that was that" (Steele 211).
Amber Hollibaugh is the daughter of an Irish mother and a Roma father. Amber’s mother grew up in a white, Irish working class family, while her father grew up being harassed and branded by the by KKK (Hollibaugh 28). These tragedies made Hollibaughs very cognizant of race, as did having light skinned and blonde hair in a biracial family. While these difference were never made salient, they were evident everyday of Amber’s
In the early 1940’s Marie was born into a small tight knit family living in a small rural Kentucky town. Marie is now in her seventies and has led a very interesting life traveling the country, raising four children, and shaping her chosen profession. Our interview sessions were conducted over a period of time, as Marie is very active and has little “free time” to spare.
William Golding observes that there are “conditions in which cruelty seems to flourish, which is different from saying that is has clear causes. What are these conditions? Chaos is one, fear is another”. All the characters do their actions from the condition of fear because of the chaotic ambiance they are surrounded in. In William Golding's Lord of the Flies and Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat humans are put to the test when they are stranded in life threatening situations with no authorization or guidance. In both stories they start off by supporting and guiding one another to survive. But as time ranged on the civilized manner turned into something violent and vicious. Both stories show that being civilized doesn't last long before everyones claws come out. Being stranded and knowing there is an absence of authority, they will try and take power even if that means acting like savages. In order to do what they need to accomplish their goal of survival people will have a desire to kill, claim power, and __________.
A main theme in this novel is the influence of family relationships in the quest for individual identity. Our family or lack thereof, as children, ultimately influences the way we feel as adults, about ourselves and about others. The effects on us mold our personalities and as a result influence our identities. This story shows us the efforts of struggling black families who transmit patterns and problems that have a negative impact on their family relationships. These patterns continue to go unresolved and are eventually inherited by their children who will also accept this way of life as this vicious circle continues.
Audrey’s early life was not simply lived through without making her a different person. Audrey, born Audrey Kathleen Ruston in 1929 in Brussels, suffered greatly from the effects of World War II. Living during this time period exposed her to the cruelty and consequences of the war. For example, her house was entered and searched through by troops unexpectedly. These troops confiscated Audrey’s family’s property leaving them without personal items and with feelings of both fear and shock (Graham). When she was only five years old, she was sent off to a boarding school in England. Soon after she was sent off, Audrey’s family was broken apart. Her father had left her, her brothers, and her mother in 1935. This event, Audrey said, was the most traumatic happening in her lifetime. Her mother moved the family to Holland, with hope that it would provide a safer environment for her and her family. While in Holland, she began to study ballet. After spending many years studying ballet she became very serious about it and soon hoped to form a career as a professional ballerina. However, she was not able to pursue her dream of becoming a ballerina due to the war. The war deprived her of the physical condition she w...
her nose in all the wrong business, and an adolescent half-Jamaican girl with self-esteem issues. Over the span of about 30 years, the three families in the book undergo
The Secret written by Rhonda Byrne in November 2006, which remained the bestseller of New York Times for about 190 weeks and it was named by USA today and remained one of the top 20 bestselling books of the past 15 years. Author Rhonda Byrne, like each of us, has been on her own journey of discovery. Along the way, she brought together a superb team of authors, ministers, teachers, filmmakers, designers, and publishers to bring forth The Secret to the world, and through her vision, bring joy to millions. Rhonda Byrne was born in 1945 in Melbourne, Australia. She is an Australian television writer and producer. She began her career as a radio producer before starting her career in television production. Her film The Secret released in 2006 took a very different direction and was viewed by millions of people across the world. Her film’s DVD sold throughout the world and over 2 million copies were sold. She also followed her book The Secret a worldwide bestseller which is available in 50 different languages and over 20 million copies were printed.