Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
by Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde pens her autobiography in Zami, A New Spelling of My Name. Lorde is the youngest of three daughters growing up in a very racially divided US in the 1930-1940s.  Lorde, an African American, shares the experience of living in Harlem and going to school in an all-white community. There are various examples of racial hatred towards Lorde, such as when the family’s landlord hangs himself for renting to a black family, her Catholic school teachers (nuns) mistreat her for not being able to read (especially when her glasses break), and being kicked out of a restaurant while on vacation in DC for entering a “whites only” diner. After high school, Lorde abandons her family, moving in with one of her high school friends. She gets pregnant by her boyfriend, has an abortion, leaves the area to Mexico and then starts experimenting sexually with other women.  Lorde’s journey includes it all – discrimination, the experience of getting her period, rape, sexual exploration, death of her father, losing a friend to suicide, and finding herself through relationships with women.  The story ends with reflections on her mother.  So where does the name “Zami” come from?  It is a Carriacou name for women who work together as friends and lovers.  Carriacou is the Caribbean island that her mother immigrated before coming to the US.  Lorde is ahead of her time.  This is a book that reflects the “authentic self” of an author. Highly recommend.