Pauline Black launches her autobiography

Pauline Black launches her autobiography

Louder Than War
2011-08-04

Miles Barter

Pauline Black launches her autobiography, ‘Black By Design
 
Music was hardly mentioned as Selecter frontwoman Pauline Black launched her autobiography at Houseman’s radical bookshop in London on Wednesday evening (last night 3 Aug).
 
She told the 70 people packed into a sweltering store that Black by Design was the story of her journey from being a mixed race baby adopted by a white family in Romford, Essex, to Top of the Pops and reconciliation with her own black culture.

Her family refered to her as “coloured” because they thought it was the most polite term available.

Pauline described adoption as “legalised identity theft” and said she had changed her surname from Vickers to Black so people “had to call me black”.
 
She read excerpts from the book about her struggle to find her true self.
 
Her birth mother was white British, her father was black Nigerian. She had originally been named Belinda Magnus…

…Many audience members talked of their own experiences as black and mixed race youngsters in Britain.
 
There was a discussion on whether things were better or whether prejudice was just more hidden now…

Read the entire article here.

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