Seventy Years of Blackness

In 1947, Verda was adopted by Ray and Edwinna Wagner (see copy of attached adoption document).    The Wagner’s were an affluent Negro family, able to provide all the amenities that their only child needed.  At age 10 her parents, the Wagners, told Verda she was adopted.  The significance of being adopted had no meaning to her and she did not realize what this implied. Verda’s family was very religious always attending church—traditionally Black church.  Today Verda continues to attend a Black church. Now we move forward in Verda’s life a time after her adoptive parents were deceased.  It was while going through the family’s paperwork Verda was in for the surprise of her life.   As you read through this heart-warming story you will get an understanding of the feeling—being born White, adopted and raised by a “Negro” (the term used on the birth record) couple and at age 70 finding out that you are really “White!”   Having spent seventy years as a Negro, Verda thought I have been in “Seventy Years of Blackness.”  Blackness as defined by The Free Dictionary is “1) the quality or state of being black; and 2) the quality or state of being a black person.”  Go with Verda on this amazing journey as she discovers her roots.

**Many of the documents you will view in this book are from the originals which are more than 70 years old.