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Secret Daughter |
| A Mixed-Race Daughter and the Mother Who Gave Her
Away |
June Cross ISBN: 067088555X
Format: Hardcover, 320pp
Pub. Date: May 2006
Publisher: Viking Penguin
BBP Sales Rank: 4,194
List Price: $24.95
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A powerful memoir about the complicated but ultimately loving relationship
between a black daughter and her white mother
Secret Daughter is a deftly drawn and moving portrait of a childhood spent in
two very different worlds: one white, one black. In 1957, when June Cross was
four years old, she was sent by her white mother to live with a black family in
Atlantic City. Her mother, Norma, had left June's abusive father, a comic in
the well-known black vaudeville duo Stump and Stumpy, and gave June up when it
became clear that her dark-skinned, kinky-haired child could no longer "pass."
Within her adopted family, June struggled with her identity as the black
radicalism of the times collided head on with her family's more traditional
ideals. Summer vacations were spent with her mother, now in Hollywood and
married to F Troop TV actor Larry Storch. For many years, Norma, afraid that
Larry's career would suffer if anyone discovered the truth about her
illegitimate daughter, told friends and reporters that June was adopted. Secret
Daughter, which grew out of Cross's Emmy Award-winning documentary, traces this
thorny story with poignancy and skill. It is both a vivid snapshot of race
relations in America and an inspiring journey of understanding between a mother
and daughter.
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