White Like Her: My Family's Story of Race and Racial Passing

Description

As seen on The Today Show and in the Washington Post's most inspiring stories of the year! "Important in helping us understand America's complex racial history."-Kenyatta D. Berry, Host of PBS's Genealogy Roadshow Includes a new afterword by bestselling author and Philadelphia Inquirer journalist Solomon Jones In the historical context of the Jim Crow South, author Gail Lukasik explores her African-American mother's decision to pass, how she hid her secret even from her own husband, and the price she paid for choosing whiteness. Haunted by her mother's fear and shame, Gail embarks on a quest to uncover her mother's racial lineage, tracing her family back to eighteenth-century colonial Louisiana. In coming to terms with her decision to publicly out her mother, Gail changed how she views race and heritage. With a foreword written by Kenyatta Berry, host of PBS's Genealogy Roadshow, and brand-new afterword written by bestselling author Solomon Jones, White Like Her is a unique and fascinating story of self-discovery and redemption that breaks down barriers.

Gail Lukasik is the author of the award-winning Leigh Girard mystery series. She has written articles for The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Salon.com and Mic.com. Her appearance on PBS Genealogy Roadshow, where her mother's life-changing secret was revealed, inspired White Like Her. The book captured national attention and led to Gail's appearance on numerous TV shows, including the Today Show. Her mother's story was featured in the documentary, History of Memory, and won a Tribeca X Award. Gail divides her time between writing and lecturing. Kenyatta D. Berry is a genealogist, businesswoman, and lawyer with more than fifteen years experience in genealogical research and writing. She is a host of the PBS broadcast Genealogy Roadshow and is the Past President of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and on the Council of the Corporation for the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) in Boston. A frequent lecturer and writer, her area of focus is African American and Slave Ancestral research. Solomon Jones is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in Essence magazine and the Philadelphia Daily News. Jones is a producer, public speaker, and also the creator of the Words On The Street literacy program. Additionally, he is the acclaimed author of eight novels. Jones lives in Philadelphia and is currently working on his next novel.

"Lukasik takes us inside her family story, revealing that her own mother chose to live as a white woman. Lukasik, bravely and eloquently, writes with a researcher's eye and a daughter's heart. In righting her own history, Lukasik graciously affords us the opportunity to right our own." --Goldie Taylor, editor-at-large of the Daily Beast "Meticulously researched . . . Offers new insights into issues surrounding the complex history of racial passing in the United States . . . a narrative made compelling by her deeply felt emotional responses as she excavates her own heritage. This is a book which will elicit much discussion among diverse audiences, adding, as it does, to the too often elusive American tapestry." --Ronne Hartfield, author of Another Way Home: The Tangled Roots of Race in One Chicago Family "Important in helping us understand America's complex racial history . . . Adds to the ongoing conversation about race and racial identity in America because it looks at the ramifications of institutionalized racialism and racial passing through one family's story." --Kenyatta D. Berry, Host of PBS's Genealogy Roadshow "In White Like Her, Lukasik, with the persistence and canniness of the sleuths as the detective novelist she sometimes impersonates, explores how complicated race is in America." --Randy Fertel, author of The Gorilla Man and the Empress of Steak: A New Orleans Family Memoir