Verda Byrd, a 72-year old woman from Converse, Texas lived her entire life believing she was black. She was raised in a black family, had black friends and attended a black church. She was even married twice to both times to black men. However at the age of 70 in a quest to learn more about her birth parents, Byrd found out details about her life that would change her forever. Hit the jump for more.
Verda Byrd was born in 1942, and named Jeanette Beagal by her biological parents Earl and Daisy of Kansas City, Missouri. The baby girl was the youngest of 10 children and soon became a ward of the state after her birth father abandoned the family and her birth mother took a bad fall and could no longer take care of her.
She was placed in a foster home. Her African American foster parents Ray and Edwina Wagoner from legally adopted her in Kansas City and named her Verda. They were able to get around the racist adoption laws of the 1940s according to Verda, because “my mother was light-complected and they assumed she was white.”
Byrd lived a comfortable life. Her adopted father was a railroad porter and made enough money for her mother to stay home with her. Byrd opened up about her childhood saying, “My mother took me to a black hairdresser, and I grew up participating in Martin Luther King marches and eating soul food,” she says. “My life was completely immersed in black culture, and why wouldn’t it be? For all intents and purposes, I was black.”
She wasn’t aware of her true roots until 2013, during that year long after her adopted parents died she uncovered the secret they took to their graves. Byrd came across adoption papers with her birth name on it and after some searching she was surprised to find out she was actually white. “On every single paper,it said that I was white,” she said.
Byrd said, “It was overwhelming – unbelievable,” she added “I had never questioned it growing up and my parents had never told me. They took that I was white to the grave, and I simply had no clue. I thought I was black.”
Through her adoption records she was able to come in contact with her three surviving siblings. Her sister Debbie Romero a florist from Dallas said, “Not only do we learn we have a sister, we learn that she has grown up black,” she added,”But it certainly didn’t bother us. It’s not the color of Verda that shocked us, but the fact that we have found a lost sister.”
Verda says, “I still feel black and that’s not going to change.” she added, “I’m comfortable with being a black woman. ”
In the wake of the news about Rachel Dolezal, the NAACP president who lied about her race Byrd had a statement for her. She said, “I respect her for wanting equal treatment, but the fact is, she outright lied,” she continued “That’s what is so upsetting to me. She knew she was white and tried to be something she wasn’t. Whereas in my case, the fact is, I simply did not know. And really, now that I know the truth, does it really matter?”
She said, “When you’re dead and gone in the cemetery, the tombstone doesn’t say what race you were,” she continued “It doesn’t matter. In the end, you have to take the bitter with the sweet and be comfortable with who you are.”
Source People
