One Drop

I always like to read biographies, whether or not I've ever heard of the subject, just because I find people's lives and experiences to be very interesting.  Anatole Broyard was a literary critic (although I've never heard of him) who died in 1990.  Shortly before he died, his children were told their father was bi-racial, a fact he'd hidden from them all their lives.

Bliss Broyard, his daughter, wanted to find out about her family's history and the story of whiteness and blackness in her ancestry, and perhaps understand why her father denied his African roots and presented himself and his family as white.  As an interested genealogist, I liked that part of the story.  In addition, my husband's step-grandfather was of mixed race and as I've looked at documents marking his life, I see he called himself both Colored and White at various times.  One Drop takes a hard look at "passing" and why it was done in a historical context, as well as why her father's family passed.

I'm almost done with the book and hope the author discusses her own feelings of finding out she is bi-racial.