19. Shirlee Taylor Haizlip - The Sweeter the Juice: A Family Memoir in Black and White
Shirlee Taylor Haizlip's family has been racially mixed almost as far back as her genealogy can be traced. In her family tree one can find black slaves, American Indians, Irish immigrants, and Martha Washington.
It was on her mother's side of the family that something happened which is probably more common than most people know. Her mother's father took his light-skinned daughters, and they became "white", while their slightly darker-skinned sister was put in foster care and remained "black".
A good part of the book is about Haizlip's search for her family members who chose to pass as white, and what happens when they are reunited. She also tells the fascinating stories, pieced together from records and passed-down memories, of several generations of her relatives, of their experiences as multiracial Americans in different times and places.
The issue of passing is one that I can deeply relate to, as a transgender person, just from a slightly different angle. Haizlip identifies as black, but is sometimes read as white. She has to wonder whether she and her darker-skinned husband will be read as a black couple or an interracial couple, in a world where being read as the latter may put them in physical danger. Again, this is something one may be tempted to think is uncommon, but really isn't! Many of us have to wonder whether the rest of the world will see us as who we know we are, even in such seemingly basic characteristics as our race and gender. Many of us have to wonder on a daily basis whether we'll be read as a member of a privileged group or not, and to decide whether it is desirable -- or safe -- to correct any misconceptions.
Haizlip does not have cut-and-dried answers about race and passing, because there aren't any. What she has are stories, her family's stories. The range of experiences are both eye-opening and familiar. Some of her ancestors were listed as one race on one census form, and a different race on another (without asking them what they preferred, of course, or questioning whether the available options even made sense). Things like this are still happening. People need to know that not everyone is easy to categorize, and what it means for our social and emotional lives when someone else does the categorizing for us.
This is an awesome book. I strongly recommend it.
tags: a: Haizlip Shirlee Taylor, African-American, mixed race, memoir
It was on her mother's side of the family that something happened which is probably more common than most people know. Her mother's father took his light-skinned daughters, and they became "white", while their slightly darker-skinned sister was put in foster care and remained "black".
A good part of the book is about Haizlip's search for her family members who chose to pass as white, and what happens when they are reunited. She also tells the fascinating stories, pieced together from records and passed-down memories, of several generations of her relatives, of their experiences as multiracial Americans in different times and places.
The issue of passing is one that I can deeply relate to, as a transgender person, just from a slightly different angle. Haizlip identifies as black, but is sometimes read as white. She has to wonder whether she and her darker-skinned husband will be read as a black couple or an interracial couple, in a world where being read as the latter may put them in physical danger. Again, this is something one may be tempted to think is uncommon, but really isn't! Many of us have to wonder whether the rest of the world will see us as who we know we are, even in such seemingly basic characteristics as our race and gender. Many of us have to wonder on a daily basis whether we'll be read as a member of a privileged group or not, and to decide whether it is desirable -- or safe -- to correct any misconceptions.
Haizlip does not have cut-and-dried answers about race and passing, because there aren't any. What she has are stories, her family's stories. The range of experiences are both eye-opening and familiar. Some of her ancestors were listed as one race on one census form, and a different race on another (without asking them what they preferred, of course, or questioning whether the available options even made sense). Things like this are still happening. People need to know that not everyone is easy to categorize, and what it means for our social and emotional lives when someone else does the categorizing for us.
This is an awesome book. I strongly recommend it.
tags: a: Haizlip Shirlee Taylor, African-American, mixed race, memoir