Syracuse-born journalist explores her racial identity in memoir, ‘American Negra’

Natasha Alford was 19 years old and visiting the Dominican Republic when she felt a sense of belonging for the first time in her life as a Latina. Born and raised in Syracuse, Alford found it difficult to fit in living in her hometown, as she is someone of Black and Puerto Rican descent. However, being in the Dominican Republic, a country with a large percentage of Afro descendants, Alford was treated like one of their own.

The combination of growing up in Syracuse along with her experience in the Dominican Republic inspired her to write her new memoir, “American Negra.”

“American Negra” in English translates to “American Black girl.” Alford, 37, wanted this to be the title of her memoir to emphasize the importance of Blackness existing in every context of society.

“Oftentimes, when we use the word ‘Black’ in the United States, we assume that it only refers to African Americans,” said Alford. “But there are Black people in other countries and cultures. ‘American Negra’ is just about [highlighting] the fact that there are Black people in Latin America within the context of the United States.”

Throughout her memoir, Alford talks about her experience living in Upstate New York as an Afro-Latina, dealing with chronic illness, and the affirmation and pride in her racial identity. “It felt like at times, it was hard, growing up in Upstate New York, for people to fully understand, embrace and affirm my racial and ethnic identity,” Alford said. “[But] people are now embracing what it means to be ‘negra’ in the Latin American sense. That is also part of the intention of titling the book: to help people understand that there’s a tension that exists, but also there’s a movement that’s happening.”

Alford graduated from Nottingham High School in the Syracuse City School District, and then went on to earn a B.A. in Social Studies at Harvard University. Throughout Alford’s career as an award-winning journalist, her writing has been…