Publisher's Synopsis
A journey of being human. This essay is the author's exploration of identity and consciousness, of passing and self-hate, of motherhood and feminism and sexual orientation, of being part of cultural reckoning for genocide, war, and racial violence during the mid 20th century.
In this dramatic and beautifully written memoir, the author explores questions of race, adoption and identity, not as the professor of ethnic studies that she became, but as the black child of German settlers in Guatemala, who called her their "little Moor." Her journey into investigating the mystery of how these White foreigners became her parents begins when she reluctantly considered joining an African-American organization at the U.S. College where she taught. In the book's shocking ending, she learns truths about her mother, and the callous disrespect committed long ago against mother and child in the name of love.
