Georgina Lawton on growing up Black in a white family

How We Live Now with Katherine May

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.

This week Katherine chats to Georgina Lawton, author of 'Raceless: In Search of Family, Identity, and the Truth About Where I Belong'.

For most of her life, Georgina Lawton was aware that she didn't look like her white family, but by her teens, she was no longer able to believe her parent's line that she was a genetic 'throwback' to a Black ancestor. In her memoir, Raceless, she writes about the painful process of forging a Black identity from scratch, and the painstaking work of repairing her relationship with her mother after years of denial.

A really lovely chat which branches out onto areas including her Surrey upbringing, the sense of confusion in her early years, the experience of receiving racial comments more often as she grew up, finding friend groups, her amazing perspective shifts through travel, and her strategies in breaking down her racial origins - she has developed numerous versions depending on the situation. A fascinating look at family, friends and society.

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Raceless: In Search of Family, Identity, and the Truth About Where I Belong

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