Today we welcome author Andie J. Christopher to ALBTALBS! Andie joins us with a guest post for Smithsonian Hispanic Heritage Month, and we are thrilled to have her! We also hope you are enjoying our SHHM guest posts as much as we have. Please give Andie a warm ALBTALBS welcome!

White, Black, and Puerto Rican All Over

My mom is white. Specifically, her ancestors were Irish, French-Canadian, and German/Polish. My father was black, French, and Puerto Rican, although he identified simply as black. My paternal grandmother was a jazz singer who fluttered around the margins of fame for about sixty years. She smoked like a chimney, drank like a fish, married about as many times as Elizabeth Taylor, and had a wolfish laugh I’ll never forget. She also had an affair with a Puerto Rican musician during the 1950’s, which produced my father. My father never knew his father and grew up as the cherished child in a matriarchal household. (I think my grandmother would have enjoyed being referred to as a “matriarch.”) Continue reading →