Marra Gad: A Mixed-Race Jewish Woman Tells Her Complex Life Story

The biological mother of Hollywood producer and executive producer Marra B. Gad was a white, unwed Jewish woman; her biological father was a non-Jewish African-American man who never learned of the pregnancy. As an infant, Gad was adopted by a Midwestern Jewish couple. The fact that her biological mother was a Jew is significant: No one can claim she’s not “really Jewish.” In an enlightening and moving article from the Forward, linked below, the 49-year-old Gad writes about the complications she’s faced from being part of two worlds. She also has penned a book on the subject: The Color of Love.
 
Quote: “The rabbi apologized to my parents and told them they didn’t have to take me. After all, a mixed-race baby wasn’t what they had signed up for. But my parents and I had already fallen in love. Returning me was not an option because, to them, no mistake had been made. When they looked into my crib, they didn’t see a mixed-race baby — they saw their new daughter. And, at three days old, I was taken home to Chicago.”
 
Sources: Forward.com
 
Read “Being Black and Jewish Means Constantly Being Asked to Choose” by Marra B. Gad, from Forward.com. >>
 
Listen to a radio chat with Marra Gad about today’s movie industry and her role in it. The extensive interview [54:04] — on Newstalk KGVO’s What Do You Know? program — begins at approximately [8:00]. >>
 
Photo: Forward.com