#Alvera frederic free

She was never classified as Neg/Negro on a census record ever again. None of my father’s family ever knew her true racial identity. On the 1940 Louisiana census my mother, Alvera Frederic, was listed as Negro, working in a teashop, a typical job for a woman of color.įour years after that census was taken, my mother moved north to Ohio and married my white father - and began her life as a white woman. In 2015, Genealogy Roadshow revealed to 1.5 million people that my mother passed for white. Bottom row: Brenda (Frederic) Evans, Modesta (Frederic) King Gail’s grandfather’s family that she never knew, top row left to right: Azemar Frederic Jr., Alma (Frederic) Baylor Montgomery, Delano Frederic. This was a story that needed to be told in a public forum. I decided it was important for my family to know the truth of our racial heritage.

#Alvera frederic free

Though free of my vow, I still struggled with the sting of my mother’s shame and fear. But it would require me to publically “out” my mother on national television. PBS’ Genealogy Roadshow was looking for family mysteries related to New Orleans. Three months after her death, I was presented with an opportunity to solve the uncertainty of my mother’s race and racial heritage. And yet she would not discuss her black heritage. She’d raised me to respect all people regardless of their race. In the silence of those 17 years, I struggled with the shame of her choice, my decision not to reveal her black heritage and confusion over my own racial identity. This was the longest held secret of my life. Reluctantly, I agreed to keep her secret. “You can’t tell anyone until after I die. “How will I hold my head up with my friends?” she pleaded.

When I questioned my mother about her black heritage, she seemed to shrink into herself. Gail’s mother, Alvera Frederic, in the 1940s