My sense of white identity had been shattered,” Dr. “The discovery left me reeling, confused and in need of answers. In the book Lukasik details how she spent her life thinking her mother was white until 1995, when she was leafing through the 1900 Louisiana census records that listed her mother’s father Azemar Frederic (and his entire family) as black. Gail Lukasik’s book “White LIke Her: My Family’s Story of Race and Racial Passing” is just one of the most recent stories about passing in the US. Not the first time we’ve heard a story like this!ĭr. Gail Lukasik Details Experience Of Learning Her Mother’s Black Roots Once a member of the Cleveland Civic Ballet Company, she credits her aesthetic sensibility, her stage presence, and her writerly discipline to her training as a classical ballerina.Gail Lukasik/SplashNews Dr. ![]() Her work has been anthologized in Writes of Passage: Adventures on the Writer’s Journey, Reflections on Nursing: 80 Stories on the Art and Science of Nursing, and Ms. Gail has also written multiple mystery novels. Her articles have been published in numerous journals and magazines, including American Journal of Nursing, Ars Medica, The Writer Magazine, and Mystery Readers International Journal. Her ten years of speaking engagements include The Chicago Art Institute, American Association of University Women, Swedish American Museum-Chicago, Nineteenth Century Charitable Association, Chicago Botanic Garden, University of Illinois-Chicago, and the Art Institutes of Illinois. Gail was a guest on over 18 radio programs broadcast in multiple listening areas, including WBEZ-Chicago NPR, Breakfast with Books-Cyrus Webb, and Suspense Magazine Radio. Her many years of teaching segued into a thriving speaking career. in English with a specialization in creative writing from the University of Illinois-Chicago, she taught on the university level. Gail began her writing career as a poet and was awarded an Illinois Arts Council award for her poem, “In Country.” After earning her Ph.D. Gail is also featured in a documentary film, History of Memory, as one of five stories documented in a segment titled, “The Secret Album.” The film looks at the significance of photographs in a person’s life. White Like Her was recently optioned by FGW Productions ( Who Killed Tupac?) and will be adapted as a dramatic TV series. Adds to the ongoing conversation about race and racial identity in America because it looks at the ramifications of institutionalized racialism and racial passing through one family’s story.” Berry, host of PBS’ Genealogy Roadshow said, “Important in helping us understand America’s complex racial history. ![]() Gail’s “lost” cousin Stephanie Frederic, President of FGW Productions, Los Angeles, is planning on making a documentary about the book. White Like Her: My Family’s Story is Race and Racial Passing is the story of her mother’s passing, her struggle with the shame of mother’s choice, and her subsequent journey of self-discovery and redemption. Three days later the family her mother never knew found Gail. Rather than shying away from her discovery, she appeared on the national television show, PBS’ Genealogy Roadshow, and revealed to 1.5 million people that her mother had passed for white. What she discovered changed everything she knew about herself and her family, shaking her identity to the core. Never able to solve a family mystery involving her maternal grandfather, Azemar Frederic of New Orleans, Gail embarked on a quest to find information about her illusive grandfather. She believes writing needs to strike at the heart of human experience, uncovering what lies hidden or buried. Award-winning mystery novelist, poet, and memoirist, Gail Lukasik has an intrepid and unflinching approach to her life and her writing.
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