I have always been me :

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Title :

I have always been me : a memoir / Precious Brady-Davis.

Title:

I have always been me :

Varying Form of Title:

I've always been me

Author:

Brady-Davis, Precious

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

236 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : color illustrations, portraits ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

ISBN:

9781542044301

9781542044318

Production / Publication Information:

New York : Topple Books : Little A, [2021]

Contents:

Early family trouble -- A family divided -- Church offers a glimpse of hope -- Which house is a home? -- Churches, drama, and more houses -- Breakthroughs -- An education -- A new kind of family -- Time for a change -- Work with purpose -- Settling in to joy -- Epilogue: Three years later.

Summary:

Trans woman Precious Brady-Davis recalls her childhood growing up in the Omaha foster care system and Pentecostal faith as a biracial, gender-nonconforming child.

Language:

English

Genre:

Autobiographies.

Geographic Term:

Omaha (Neb.)

Subject Term:

Transgender people -- United States -- Biography.

African American transgender people -- Biography.

Racially mixed people -- United States -- Biography.

Gender-nonconforming people -- United States -- Biography.

Foster home care -- United States.

Pentecostal churches.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	306.768 BRA	31330009065396	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

A powerful memoir of independence, releasing the past, and living the dream by award-winning trans advocate Precious Brady-Davis.

Precious Brady-Davis remembers the sense of being singular and grappling with "otherness." Born into traumatic circumstances, Davis was brought up in the Omaha foster care system and the Pentecostal faith. As a biracial, gender-nonconforming kid, she felt displaced. Yet she realized by coming into her identity that she had a purpose all along.

In I Have Always Been Me , Brady-Davis reflects on a childhood of neglect, instability, and abandonment. She reveals her determination to dream through it and shares her profound journey as a trans woman now fully actualized, absolutely confident, and precious. She speaks to anyone who has ever tried to find their place in this world and imparts the wisdom that comes with surmounting odds and celebrating on the other side.

A memoir, a love story, and an outreach for the marginalized, Precious's sojourn is a song of self-reliance and pride and an invitation to join in the chorus.

Reviews (4)

School Library Journal Review

Brady-Davis is a proud wife, mother, and Black trans woman. She's a well-known activist and former drag performer who's appeared on reality TV. She was raised by an unstable cast of foster parents, family, and church members, most of whom failed to embrace and nurture a gender nonconforming kid. The first third of this chronological memoir recaps Brady-Davis's childhood and adolescence in the Pentecostal faith, growing up in Omaha, NE, in the 1990s. She covers the pain of loving an institution led by people who proclaimed her very existence as sinful. Yet, Brady-Davis perseveres into high school with one foot in the church and one in the performing arts, where she finds a safe place to push boundaries, challenge gender norms, and gain confidence. By the time Brady-Davis leaves Omaha for college, the memoir zigs from the church-heavy narrative to a true coming-of-age arc where she finds a home in the Chicago drag scene, earns a college degree, embraces her sexuality and trans identity, and gets involved in LGBTQIA+ youth activism. The author introduces a sometimes dizzying number of characters in a time line that isn't strictly linear. For teens who need to know it gets better, this story will assure them it does, as the author concludes the book with tales of a successful career, a fulfilling marriage, and the hope motherhood brings her. VERDICT A worthy first purchase to ensure shelves are mirroring the spectrum of the human experience.--Lindsay Jensen, Nashville P.L.

Publisher's Weekly Review

Activist and former drag showgirl Brady-Davis strikes at the heart of what it means to be trans in America in her audacious debut. Long before she named herself Precious and was invited to celebrate Pride at President Obama's White House as one of the country's foremost trans community organizers, Brady-Davis was a child of fractured families, careening between Omaha's foster care system in the 1980s and abusive family homes. Religion served as a grounding force, but also introduced her to new traumas, as countless Pentecostal role models demanded she renounce her queerness and "get right with God." Instead, she redirected the energy she once reserved for mission work to social justice and a short but rowdy stint as a drag performer in Chicago, which eventually helped her manifest her trans identity. Fans of RuPaul's Drag Race will particularly enjoy the tea spilt on series stars such as Jaremi Carey ("Out of spite, she'd go out... and perform the number I'd said I was going to do"). Though the narrative is occasionally hampered by a timeline that skips entire years of the author's life, Brady-Davis's sharp wit and blunt honesty--especially her openness about unlearning internalized bigotry--is arresting. This serves up unapologetic realness the whole way through. Agent: Melissa Edwards, Stonesong. (July)

Kirkus Review

A memoir from an "effeminate" Black boy who survived a dysfunctional childhood and adolescence to emerge into a life of "Black excellence" as a proud trans woman. Brady-Davis grew up as a biracial, gender-nonconforming boy in Omaha. He was 2 years old when his birth mother, Tammy, lost custody of him and two siblings due to neglect. An extended series of stays with relatives and foster parents ensured a tumultuous adolescence. Church services and youth groups offered some consolation until he was called out on his apparent homosexual leanings during a Pentecostal service. Although he enjoyed "boy" activities such as kickball, he was also drawn to "brazen acts of femininity" such as wearing women's shoes. In high school, his "queerness and penchant for performance" led him to theater and leadership groups focused on social justice issues, both of which he embraced fully. "I allowed myself to be more than just one version of myself," writes the author. "I refused to uphold tenets of faith that prescribed bigotry." Now identifying as Precious, the author found herself in community service, the drag community, and LGBTQ+ groups. Declaring drag not "the only way to express my feminine gender-nonconforming identity," Precious began living as an out trans woman in Chicago, working in HIV prevention and as a coordinator for homeless youth. By 25, in "full blossom as a trans woman," she was directing a full portfolio of diversity initiatives at Columbia College Chicago. Meeting Myles Brady, a trans man and outreach worker for trans youth, "shattered" her preconceptions of Black masculinity. They became a "power couple" in their trans community and married in 2016. In an epilogue set three years later, the author chronicles how they became pregnant through in vitro fertilization, and they took part in a TV special about trans pregnancy. Now in a new position at the Sierra Club, the author is a shining example of a proud Black trans woman, celebrating genderqueerness in her work and personal lives. An inspiring memoir of nonconformity. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

In her author's note, Brady-Davis affirms that this coming-of-age memoir, detailing her formation as a Black trans woman activist on multiple diversity initiatives, helped her "let go of the painful trauma and celebrate the triumphs" of her life. Assigned male at birth, Brady-Davis navigated complex challenges in her youth, including a disengaged birth mother, the foster-care system, adoption by grandparents who later divorced, authoritarian religion, family conflict, and ejection from the family home without warning as a teen. Layered into these events is her evolution from being a gay, male-identified person to embracing drag-queen culture and performing to living as a trans woman to marrying a trans man who births their first child. Alongside all this, the most compelling parts of her story occur when Brady-Davis reckons with her own mistakes, false narratives, and assumptions. Her clear and informed writing focuses as much on her interior development as the external forces shaping her. The detail-laden narrative may overwhelm at times; more importantly, it stands as a shining example of representation, both imperfect and authentic.