If I were a flower, they'd call me a hybrid, perhaps even an American Beauty. But in spite of my African, Cherokee, Choctaw, French, Portuguese, Scottish and Seminole ancestry, in America, I am known and call myself African American or Black. Given the ways in which Americans are socialized to understand race, it's simpler for everyone and doesn't generate conversations that wear me out.
In reality, my ancestry is more complicated. I embrace all of my ancestors and appreciate the myriad ways that they are reflected in me. And I prize greatly the family photos that depict our multi-dimensionality. Check out these beautiful photos of my wonderful, mixed-up family.
