The first decade of the twentieth century was not a great time
to be born black and poor and female in St. Louis, Missouri, but
Vivian Baxter was born black and poor, to black and poor
parents. Later she would grow up and be called beautiful. As a
grown woman she would be known as the butter-colored lady with
the blowback hair. Her father, a Trinidadian with a heavy
Caribbean accent, had jumped from a banana boat in Tampa,
Florida, and evaded immigration agents successfully all his
life. He spoke often and loudly with pride at being an American
citizen. No one explained to him that simply wanting to be a
citizen was not enough to make him one. Contrasting with her
father’s dark chocolate complexion, her mother was light-colored
enough to pass for white. She was called an octoroon, meaning
that she had one-eighth Negro blood. Her hair was long and
straight. At the kitchen table, she amused her children by
whirling her braids like ropes and then later sitting on them.
Although Vivian’s mother’s people were Iris