Family

f you visit the well-tended North Jersey Cape Cod that is home to Nancybelle Valentine, you will likely be offered a cup of herbal tea (or sorrel, if you ask for it) and something baked and homemade: perhaps a still-warm bit of banana bread or slice of Jamaican black cake suffused with just the right amount of overproof rum. You would likely notice the African prints arrayed over and on either side of the fireplace, mostly black and white portraits, simple and elegant. By the front door, a radiator cover sports glass-topped display of seashells collected over years of travel, and on top of it rests a simple photograph: a smiling Nancybelle celebrating New Year's Eve with an equally ebullient Brahma Curry-Valentine, her life partner of 24 years. Ask about the photo and you'll get a sly smile: "We had a good time that night."

Within a few minutes, you will know you are in the home of a woman at peace with her life as a retired African American Christian lesbian. Understanding the source of that peace and self-assurance will take a bit longer. "I always had confidence about who I am and what I am about," Nancybelle says. She credits her family with instilling that confidence in her." If you know who you are and where you come from then you have infinite possibilities.”

For the full story, see Nancybelle's family photo album.

Collage: Family pictures by James Vanderzee and unknown photographers, 1917-ca. 1950. Collage by Kim Pearson

Sidebar photo: Nancybelle Valentine shares her photo albums with student Kerby Vincent, (left) and Prof. Kim Pearson, center. Photo by Robert Burnett.

Used with permission of Nancybelle Valentine.