nana Archives - The Race Card Project

White hair; My Nana did care!

August 26, 2024August 26, 2024 American School Counselor Association Conference, Black is Beautiful, grandmother, hair, MD, nana, Tania Chandler, Upper Marlboro

Tania Chandler,
Upper Marlboro, MD

I remember when I was about 8 years old, I told my grandmother that I wished I had hair like white people. I thought they were the only people that could have long flowing hair instead of the tight coils that I had as a black girl. She was furious!! She told me don’t EVER say that again. Those word still sting today like it just happened. I’m 56. She said our hair was beautiful and so were we.

American School Counselor Association Conference

Mom said I never saw color.

March 6, 2018March 10, 2018 Baltimore, bangs, Black, braids, colorblind, Corrine Ferrell-Macatee, grandmother, Japanese, MD, nana, teenager, white

Corrine Ferrell-Macatee,
Baltimore, MD.

Me, bad bangs, my best friend, little girl with braids, my cousin, cute little Japanese girl. My nana and sister are here too, it wasn’t til I was in my early teens I even realized we weren’t all white, black or Japanese.

“Does he know,” Nana asks, worriedly?

July 31, 2016July 31, 2016 Black, Grandma, grandmother, interracial dating, Liz Pryor, MA, nana, Northampton, Smith College

Liz Pryor,
Northampton, MA.
Smith College.

My mother was white. So was her whole family. After my husband, who is white, proposed, my grandmother cornered my cousin and asked “Does he know about Elizabeth?” My cousin asked back, “Does he know what?” and my grandmother answered, “That she’s Black.”

Black boyfriend visited, Nana called police

April 1, 2013March 4, 2015 Black, boyfriend, Cynthia Moore, Grandma, grandmother, MA, nana, Northborough, police

Cynthia Moore
Northborough, MA

My sweet kind misguided fearful grandmother called the police to report a potential dangerous intruder in the house when my black boyfriend first came to visit where we lived downstairs. The doorbell rang and the police asked me to step outside. They then went inside and confronted him. I thought I was going to die of embarrassment. Up until this moment I had no idea that my grandmother was so racially jaded. She had been picked on all her life for her Protestant upbringing and felt less than worthy due to her glass eye. I had never understood that being the victim of prejudice doesn’t automatically preclude you from becoming a perpetrator yourself. It was quite an awakening for me. God bless my boyfriend shook it off. I’m happy to report he’s still a friend in life.

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