Finding Grace: Two Sisters and the Search for Meaning Beyond the Color Line

by Shirlee Taylor Haizlip

Book Overview

The author describes the reunion between her African American mother and her aunt, who had spent her life passing for white, and describes their efforts to redefine their personal identities from both... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743200535
• ISBN13: 9780743200530
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

It?s a Thin Line between Black and White

Shirley Taylor Haizlip first brought attention to the complexities of race and miscegenation to the forefront with her 1993 book, The Sweeter the Juice: A Family Memoir in Black and White. Haizlip told of her search to find her mother's family, a family that seemed to disappear when they crossed the color line and became white. Through genealogy records, hundreds of hours searching in library and archives and meticulous research, Haizlip finally located her mother's sister. In this sequel, Finding Grace, we learn more about the aftermath of the meeting of the two sisters, Margaret and Grace. Grace, who was a young teenager at the time of separation, along with other siblings, entered the white world while Margaret was left behind with a cousin to be raised black. Haizlip tells how finding Grace changed her family's lives and found dozens of new relatives---- white people who knew nothing of their black heritage. These new family members embraced Margaret, her children and grandchildren. Haizlip gives us vignettes of some well-known and not-so-known people who have African blood but who live or have lived as Caucasians. She cites the recent revelation of Carol Channing that her father was black, a secret she kept since she has been in college. Several mixed-race families are also cited. Hundreds of letters poured into Haizlip and she publishes many from people who have found out they, too, have black blood. Still others knew but chose to pass for white because to proclaim their blackness would have caused them hardship. Still, there were others such as the late literary critic, Anatole Broyard, who knew he was a person of color, but kept his secret. Some people did not so much as pass as just did not proclaim their blackness. Story after story reveals what many Americans do not want to face, that many white people have black blood running through their veins who passed into the white world successfully erasing any traces of blackness. But did they? How does the infamous one-drop rule affect them?While this book was enlightening in the sense of people coming together and revealing that as much as there are differences in ethnicities, we are actually becoming more multicultural and some even believe that race is becoming inconsequential. This reviewer's disappointment in the book was in the fact that we never got to hear from Grace, who while she embraced her sister and family, staunchly refused to talk about the circumstances that caused her and her siblings to pass nor would she discuss race. This of course, cannot be held against her; for almost eighty years she lived as white. She and Margaret had several years together before her death.Haizlip spoke to a standing room only crowd in Oakland at Marcus Books. In the audience was her sister, Jewel Taylor Gibbs, a professor at U.C. Berkeley, who helped Haizlip with research and support. This book is a fitting sequel to the first book and a credible addition to mixed-race studies. Dera WilliamsAPOOO

Haizlip's "Finding Grace" A Healing Fulfilled

Primarily, Shirlee Taylor Haizlip's The Sweeter the Juice prompted America to think about race back in 1995. Growing up, her mother Margaret Morris Taylor disclosed that her siblings had abandoned her as a child and consequently identified themselves as white known as passing. Shirlee promised her mother that she would find the invisible white branches of their family hidden for so long. Relying on archives and other information, Shirlee began a quest unraveling a lineage connected to America's founding families and history spanning from the mid Atlantic region to the West coast. What she found compelled a nation, and perhaps the world, to look at itself in terms of race, align itself with the past, and to facilitate a universal tolerance for color regardless of ethnicity. Letters flowed in from readers, and Shirlee found it relevant that some tell their stories too while writing her second book. No doubt her mother's abandonment equally pained her; however, Haizlip realized that she must trace the whereabouts of her "white family" as they could no longer escape reality, they shared Negro blood. In her first book, she provides a rich and varied family history, one secure in its identity and place in society. However, the issue of uncertainty is felt throughout warranting reconciliation. Until the past and future and meet, there can be none. You will rejoice with Margaret Morris Taylor as she touches the flesh of long deceased siblings and appreciate photographs of such.Subsequently, if you read The Sweeter the Juice, the issue of race and identity shaped the memoir. The implications of race and color made passing a necessity back in the Jim Crow Era although one cannot condone its practice with regard to alienation It is unfortunate that legislation made it necessary for blacks to pass. Haizlip left readers wondering what happened after she located her mother's sole sibling, Grace Morris Cramer then residing in Anaheim, CA. Nine years in the making, the sequel arrived in bookstores last month.Consequently, Finding Grace, answers questions regarding black and white blood meeting for the first time, blood parted by racism in the Jim Crow era when only white mattered. Here, Haizlip allows them to tell their stories relieved that her research and disclosure did not adversely affect the lives of those involved. Read it, and you will see how honesty and acceptance transcends even the most painful and bitter separations. The book suggests that we can learn from past racial indiscretions while learning about current ones. Readers forwarded letters depicting personal experiences with race and related discrimination; they are worth reading illustrating universal truths associated with identity fraud: one cannot hide his or her spots for too long.

A Heartfelt Story for Every American

This book should be required reading for every American schoolchild at 6th grade level. The story is meaningful and thought-provoking and without malice truly asks the question"What does it mean to be a race other than white- even partially?" For those who truly feel that they are impartialthe subtlies of prejudice are revealed. The love and caring of the storyteller for every character in the book is ver evident-warmth radiates from every page. Read this book and embrace the wonderful American Family experience!