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mixed race

Eartha Kitt – Never Finds Her White Father

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The beautiful Eartha Kitt!

Did you know: She didn’t know her actual birthday until she was 71? She never knew who her father was?

Once she finally discovered her birth certificate she was allowed 15 minutes with it and her father’s name was blacked out.

Kitt died in 2008.  Her daughter said:  “She carried the scar of her rejection with her all her life. She was rejected for the colour of her skin ironically by both black and white.” Her daughter goes on to say: “To some extent, I think my arrival completed her because it gave her a family that she never had.”

Our mixed roots stories might have rejection, secrecy, and pain…telling and sharing our stories can provide healing.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/19/eartha-kitt-suffered-over-identity

Multi-talented Performer Alejandro T Acierto

Alejandro T. Acierto is an award winning performer.

“Alejandro T. Acierto is a musician and interdisciplinary artist whose innovative work in contemporary music, performance art, and art installation has led Time-Out New York to call him a “maverick.” He employs a multi-media aesthetic integrating music, sound, performance, and installation that explores notions of fluid identities and the slippages of cultural definitions.”

His next performance, Suspicious Package, is October 26th at 7:30pm in Brooklyn, NYC.

He will be in Saint Paul, MN November 5th and Chicago, IL  Nov 8th.

Learn more about this storyteller and his future performances at

http://alejandroacierto.com/

Black and Latino

This mini-documentary, assigned in the Mixed Race Experiences course at Arizona State University, speaks to being mixed Black/Latino in America.  Actors, singers, and journalists share their story on topics of language, skin tone, hair, and familial pressures (i.e. Laz Alonso, Tatyana Ali, Gina Torres, Judy Reyes, Christina Milian, Soledad O’Brien and more).  They also speak about difficulties they have had in being cast due to their mixed heritage.

Black and Latino

http://www.mun2.tv/watch/shorts/black-and-latino

 

Many Wonderful Quotes to Ponder: Coming Out as Biracial

From medium.com/human-parts/c25d6ae8f2af

From medium.com/human-parts/c25d6ae8f2af

We’re very moved by this new blogpost written by Stephanie Georgopulos (Twitter handle: @omgstephlol)

Some quotes to pique your interest in clicking the link below and joining the conversation:

“Even with my white skin, I didn’t know the white experience entirely. I didn’t know it because when people use that poisonous n-word, I instantly think of my mother—and how people have used that word to hurt her simply for lack of time and effort. I think about the things my parents sacrificed to be together, things bigger than letters can spell…When #shitblackmomssay trended on Twitter, I laughed. I was on the inside of something, for once.

“[Being biracial is] witnessing one of the most exciting conversations about race since the civil rights movement, and wondering whether you’re the white voice that should shut up and listen, or the black voice that should speak out, or the mixed voice that should ???.”

Click here for the rest of this insightful post: https://medium.com/human-parts/c25d6ae8f2af

From medium.com/human-parts/c25d6ae8f2af

Kickstarter: New Children’s Book About Diversity

An author of a new children’s book filled out our ‘promote your story link’ to promote her Kickstarter campaign for a new children’s book. Let us know if you have any projects you’d like us to promote!

From their Kickstarter Campaign page (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/453478160/a-friend-can-be)

“A Friend Can Be” is a book inspired by years of preschool teaching and by a “three round” motherhood experience. While most books about friendship are geared towards older children, ” A Friend Can Be” is written in a way that even a very young child can understand. The language of the book is clear and simple and the illustrations feature familiar landmarks in Atlanta that captivate an older audience as well as the young children. Crafted for children roughly from 2 to 6-years-old, “A Friend Can Be” is written and illustrated to include all kinds of kids, all kinds of places, and all kinds of people in general. Written by an Early Childhood and Special Ed teacher with over 12 years experience Ana Hazanov, and designed and illustrated by amazingly creative artist Gregory Lee, this books reflects years of expertise and many days (and nights) of creative labor.

 

3rd Annual What Are You?

The Brooklyn Historical Society will be hosting the 3rd Annual What Are You? – A Discussion About Mixed Heritage event Saturday, November 9, 2013 at 2:00pm.

This year they will be discussing questions like: “How do we perform and display our identities? How does media, film, art, humor and photography shape and mediate mixed-race identity?”

Check out their great panel (including Toasted Marshmallows which we have featured on HERE‎). They will even have a special dance performance.

http://cbbg.brooklynhistory.org/blog/3rd-annual-what-are-you-discussion-about-mixed-heritage

This event is FREE! If you are on the East Coast…this is an event worth attending! It will be held at:

Great Hall, Brooklyn Historical Society
128 Pierrepont Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Sister, Sister!

Tia & Tamera, from the 90s TV show Sister, Sister have a blog that “is an online community…that focuses on family, motherhood, health, beauty and style.”

http://tiaandtameraofficial.com/

Tamera often posts and shares her life story by posting updates about her husband and son.  Tamara is in an interracial marriage and has a mixed race son. 

Check out her recent family photos!

New Book for Grandmothers with Multiracial Families

Grandmothering: Real Life in Real Families is a new book by Becky Sarah (Child Development Specialist, midwife and childbirth educator, Public Health Director for the City of Chelsea, MA and, most importantly, Grandmother).  The book offers practical advice to women whose grandchildren’s worlds are very different from the ones they themselves grew up in. The section on Multiracial Families includes references to Loving v. Virginia, the one-drop rule, and why stating that you’re “Colorblind” is not helpful to young children (or anyone, for that matter). Mixed Roots Stories is also very proud to be included as a resource. Take a moment to read the synopsis and reviews on Amazon, and if you enjoy it as much as we do – add it to your collection and to your gift-giving list. http://www.amazon.com/Grandmothering-Real-Life-Families/dp/0989791807/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381004049&sr=8-1&keywords=grandmothering