1954?-

African-American television producer and journalist

Cross' mother was a white actress and her father a Black vaudeville entertainer; they were not married. Her mother gave her to Black friends when she was two years old and no longer able to pass for white.

She and her mother have always been in contact, but she did not meet her father until just before his death in 1981. Her mother married a Hollywood actor, and when Cross would visit them she was introduced to friends as their adopted daughter, until she went public, insisting that she be acknowledged as her mother's birth child.

She graduated from Harvard in 1975. In 1996 her story was broadcast in the Frontline television series on the Public Broadcasting System in the USA.

References

"Secret Daughter: The Story of a Mixed Race Daughter and the Mother Who Gave Her Away." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/secret/
"Tapes & Transcripts: Frontline Show #1505: Secret Daughter." Available at: http://www2.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/secret/etc/script.html

Indexes

African
USA
20th Century
21st Century
Journalism
Theater, Broadcasting, Cinema
Birth Identity Disputed or Deliberately Concealed
Pre-school Years
Unmarried Mother, Single Parent (Mother or Father) Unable to Cope
Family Friends or Acquaintances
Customary or Traditional Adoption, Informal and Extra-Legal Care
Unmarried Mother