Skin color conveyed intelligence for him. Lighter skin meant greater intellect, darker skin the opposite. My father read widely of such racist views in books and articles by authors such as Arthur

He alternated blaming his fate on the color of his skin and the existence of this tremor: He did not get a promotion to manager because of his tremor. He did not get an excellent performance review because of his tremor. His colleagues secretly made fun of him because of his tremor.

Eugenics flourished in America at the beginning of the twentieth century.

On that fall day in 1971, I was young and Black, defiant and angry, and more than ever determined not to be like my father.

W. E. B. Du Bois

For my grandfather, a devout Baptist who once sought to be a preacher, my father’s left-handedness would have signified the devil. He would have beaten it out of my father as though righteously called to an exorcism.

Though his dark skin was not his fault, it was his burden, and he simply had to make the best of it.

I believe they both suffered from AMS (arranged marriage syndrome), characterized by love that grows based on mutual respect, admiration, and shared support of each other’s life goals, yet lacks an essential passionate spark.

“Don’t know what you people hope to accomplish,” she hissed.