A biography of a mystery book about a black woman who is not part of African-American history
The history of black and white in America is deeply embedded in our consciousness. Each of us has an experience and an opinion on the subject. Whether it recalls a black man, a black woman, or a child, it falls short of the level necessary to be considered a worthy “text” of African-American history.
This biographical book represents the story of a single unusual drama that had its beginnings wrapped in the fanaticism of the time. If there is an inspiring story to open our minds and hearts to what we have in common instead of our differences, this mystery book can be considered at the top.
The inexperienced youth, who often sees life through ideals, rarely gets the chance to deliberately manipulate social justice and force their romantic values on others. Even with the best of intentions, it can wreak havoc on those least prepared to deal with the resulting catastrophe. But this is exactly what happened in the early 1950s.
Fauna Hodel, the Caucasian progeny of a prominently social California family, was given at birth to a black maid, Jimmie Lee, who worked as a bathroom attendant in a Nevada casino. Her purpose was to make sure her baby was raised by a black family. In the naive eyes of her 16-year-old mother, blacks were the only people capable of unconditional love. To ensure that the girl would never return to her emotionally lonely white family, she listed her father’s race as “black” on her birth certificate. The girl grew up believing that she was mixed race.
This is not only the story of a black girl and woman who fought to overcome extreme poverty and enormous social prejudice, but also the story of perseverance. But through perseverance and strength of character, the will to overcome these daunting obstacles prevails and succeeds.
To understand how difficult it is to live in a racist world where you clearly don’t belong, but trying to blend in to survive, one needs to be able to follow those steps. But our doing so cannot be achieved voluntarily. Finding true knowledge of emotional and physical trust requires slavery or kidnapping, two felonies universally frowned upon.
Our story begins with the dubious behavior of those responsible who initiated and controlled the events. The actions of Fauna’s grandfather who was accused and acquitted of incestuous relations with his daughter Tamar, and of Tamar who insisted but did not name the father as “black”, and the grandmother impassive in her determination to eliminate this tragedy from the family, are only temporary consequences return. But for a child, starting life buried in a haystack is a lifetime of absurdities.
This story allows us to immerse ourselves in the life of a young woman who is searching for the truth. We can feel what it’s like not knowing where she came from, or why she’s there in the first place. Her only hope is a few words remixed in a dozen different ways, but never enough to put together an answer.
With a very young Tamar leaving unanswered questions for Fauna, and Jimmie Lee not answering those questions for fear of losing his daughter, neither mother could foresee the consequences of their actions. Actions that affect future generations. We can all learn something from this misguided manipulation. This part of African American history should not be left unannounced.