A WOMAN raised in an African American family discovered that she was biologically WHITE 70 years after she was born.
Verda Byrd was adopted age two by an African-American family and grew up ‘immersed in black culture’.
She had never met her birth parents and had no idea she was actually white until she tracked down her biological siblings decades later.
In 2013, Verda Byrd, 75, from Converse, Texas, was told by her mother that she was adopted – a revelation which would change her life forever.
Verda then began to search for her biological parents and soon discovered that her siblings were actually white-skinned.
Verda managed to get in touch with her siblings in 2014 and met up with her white biological sister, Debbie Romero, in Dallas Texas.
Byrd was born to Earl and Daisy Beagle in September 1942. Her biological parents, whom she describes as white transients, named her Jeanette.
Her father walked out on his family leaving her mother with 10 children to care for. After Daisy Beagle fell 30 feet to the ground in a trolley accident, the state of Missouri took her children away from her because she could not care for them.
She was adopted by Ray and Edwinna Wagner – a financially secure African-American couple in Newton, Kansas.
The baby was renamed Verda Ann Wagner and never told of her heritage or the fact that she was adopted.
She was regarded as a light-skinned black child by her family and friends and admits she never questioned her background.
Verda, who has been married twice and has a daughter of her own, said: “My adoptive mother, Edwinna Wagner, never told me that she had adopted a white baby.
She said that despite growing up in an African-American family in the US during a time of segregation, she didn’t experience racial discrimination.
Verda never knew her birth name until 2013 when she found adoption papers, long after her adopted parents had d.i.e.d.
She started her search for her biological family and discovered the ethnicity she believed she was was totally wrong.
Byrd has reunited with her living siblings. She said they don’t discuss race.
Source:
metro.co.uk, thesun.co.uk, usatoday.com
