On my own terms

Abstract

Carol Conaway prepared this excerpt from her political memoir-in-progress. She examines her experiences as an African American lesbian living her dream of becoming a Jew. The work focuses on how she navigated her initial naïveté about the prejudices she encountered in response to her combination of gender, race, class, sexual orientation, and mental illness. Conaway’s work to co-found a community of lesbian and gay Jews in Boston marked a defining moment in her history.