Here is an article recently published about a woman who discovered a family secret that went back 3 generations about "passing" - spurred by her reading of the new Pope Leo about a year ago, and comments about his genealogy including that his black/ Creole ancestors in New Orleans left by train and settled in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century. This struck a chord with her and she realized that was what had happened to her long-lost great-uncle Edward DeGrange, explaining why she didn't know about him/ why he was never discussed by her family in New Orleans.
So many families have secrets like this - sometimes across a "color line," and sometimes the dividing element is religion or language, a hidden sexual / gender orientation or birth outside of marriage... this is not to sensationalize but to normalize that we all have unknown stories in our families... I have found some in my own family. Recovering and trying to reconstruct what happened is a way to honor the struggles and sorrows that our ancestors endured, and to reflect on how we can change the way we react to unexpected family events or developments. Happy reading!
