Sarah Culberson was adopted one year after her birth by a loving, white, West Virginian couple and was raised in the United States with little knowledge of her ancestry. Though raised in a loving family, Sarah wanted to know more about the birth parents that had given her up. In 2004, she hired a private investigator to track down her biological father. When she began her search, she never imagined what she would discover or where that information would lead her: she was related to African royalty, a ruling Mende family in Sierra Leone and that she is considered a mahaloi, the child of a Paramount Chief, with the status like a princess. What followed was an unforgettably emotional journey of discovery of herself, a father she never knew, and the spirit of a war-torn nation. A Princess Found is a powerful, intimate revelation of her quest across the world to learn of the chiefdom she could one day call her own.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
As a biracial child adopted into a nurturing white middle-class family in West Virginia, Sarah Culberson experienced warmth, stability and personal fulfillment while growing up. Like most adopted children, Culberson had questions about her biological roots, and as a biracial child dealt with the additional emotional burden of negotiating the world of racial identity. After being questioned by a teacher as to why she wore blue contact lenses, a stunned and embarrassed Culberson begins the journey to find-and embrace-her roots. Her story quickly becomes extraordinary, as she discovers her father is not just alive and living in Africa, but is part of African royalty, making her an African princess. This entertaining, informative, inspiring memoir is told through two narratives taken up in alternating chapters: one details Culberson's story of growing up, going off to college, and ultimately establishing a life for herself in the arts; the other recounts her father's incredible story of falling in love with Culberson's American mother, his struggle to keep his family alive during Sierra Leon's brutal civil war, and the remarkable reunion of father and daughter.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School—Popular with her classmates and loved by her adoptive family, African-American Sarah Culberson has never truly felt that she belonged. After graduating from high school and moving away for college, she began to seek the truth about her biological parents. She eventually hired a private investigator and learned that while her mother was a white woman, now deceased, her father is African royalty—the chief of a Mende tribe. She eventually traveled to Sierra Leone and saw firsthand both the poverty and the beauty that exist in the war-torn nation. Interspersed with Culberson's story are chapters chronicling her father's life in a village ravaged by rebels. She describes his years as a refugee in a crowded and unsanitary city and the return and rebuilding of his home and school. This eloquently written memoir covers the isolation an African-American child can feel in a predominantly white environment; the technical aspects and emotional turmoil of a search for biological parents; and the contrast between American wealth and African poverty. The author realizes the high expectations placed on her by her father's tribe, not only because she is an American, but also because she is their princess. Teens will relate to her search for a balance between her ancestry and familial obligations and her life in the United States. The narrative style keeps the memoir moving forward yet the historical and cultural information it imparts is as significant as its entertainment value.—Karen E. Brooks-Reese, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Crack open the cover of A Princess Found, and you will be swept up into the simultaneous biographies of a very normal young woman from white America, and of the African father she did not know, as he runs the gauntlet of daily survival in the Sierra Leone of the late 1990's, then the most dangerous place on earth.
Though I knew the story before I began chapter one, I could not put this book down until I finished the first half. The narrow escapes, time after time, of Joseph Konia Kposowa and his family, from attacks by the notorious rebel soldiers of Liberia's then President Charles Taylor - the same RUF child-soldier death squads for which Taylor sits imprisoned at the Hague today - had me riveted. Those who have read Ismeal Beah's "A Long Way Gone" will find the terrain familiar, and no less terrifying.
Poignant and repeatedly ironic is the parallel story of Sarah's middle class life as a mixed race, adopted girl in middle America. Candidly echoed and explored are the deep-seeded insecurities familiar to anyone close to those, or who were themselves, adopted as infants. Well described is the additional layer of mixed race geneology and sociological observations in America. Authentic, important similarities to President Obama's insights in "Dreams Of My Father" run deeper than the two books' cover designs. This story is very American.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am happy to admit my friendship with Sarah Culberson. I first met Sarah in 2007 when she agreed to be Featured Guest at the Royal African Ball, an event organized by the Consular Chamber of Commerce to fund secular school development in sub-Saharan Africa. At the time, Sarah was probably struggling to get her bearings in her newfound lineage, and the multiple ramifications of uncovering it all. I found a snippet of her story while searching for someone else's, and managed to email her friend John.
Aprehensive at first, Sarah agreed to come and speak at our event in Las Vegas. With the support of Von (see Acknowledgments), Sarah Culberson took the stage and told the story few will ever forget. Our participants were proud and substantial contributors to the Kposowa Foundation in 2007, helping to rebuild Bumpe High School.
Sarah Culberson has risen to the occasion in a way that should make her fellow Americans proud. Faced with an overwhelming and emotional ride, she rose above the natural tendancy to become self absorbed, and channels all that attention and energy into a mighty force for good. She is part adopted-kid group therapist, part mixed-race interpreter, part ambassador. She is Princess Bumpenya.
One of the stars I've given the book might be attributed to my friendship with Sarah. The book itself, her first, was put together at monumental speed. The form is fantastic. The dual stories of Sarah and Joseph, told in side-by-side format absolutly grab the reader, making for a great creshendo as the stories merge into one. A few minor proofing errors should be overlooked by those as happy as I am to see this history come to the page.
It will probably be argued that a bit more context may have shed more light on the civil war of Sierra Leone. Though RUF rebels were surely responsible for the atrocities described, it may be important to note that the Sierra Leonian government troops also recruited child soldiers (Ismael Beah ["A Long Way Gone"] among them), in this deadliest and most evil form of warfare. These troops likewise sacked villages, raped and murdered their way across the Country. Death, dismemberment, and drugged child soldiers - ninja-like assisins - stolen from normal lives and programmed as killing machines, characterized both sides of the conflict in those dark years in Sierra Leone.
This book is a tremendous effort and wonderful, timely product. More Americans need to know this collidoscopic story, and nobody is as qualified as Sarah to tell it. In this, we are all her subjects. She is the bridge. I hope we hear more from Sarah on her journey.
Though I knew the story before I began chapter one, I could not put this book down until I finished the first half. The narrow escapes, time after time, of Joseph Konia Kposowa and his family, from attacks by the notorious rebel soldiers of Liberia's then President Charles Taylor - the same RUF child-soldier death squads for which Taylor sits imprisoned at the Hague today - had me riveted. Those who have read Ismeal Beah's "A Long Way Gone" will find the terrain familiar, and no less terrifying.
Poignant and repeatedly ironic is the parallel story of Sarah's middle class life as a mixed race, adopted girl in middle America. Candidly echoed and explored are the deep-seeded insecurities familiar to anyone close to those, or who were themselves, adopted as infants. Well described is the additional layer of mixed race geneology and sociological observations in America. Authentic, important similarities to President Obama's insights in "Dreams Of My Father" run deeper than the two books' cover designs. This story is very American.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am happy to admit my friendship with Sarah Culberson. I first met Sarah in 2007 when she agreed to be Featured Guest at the Royal African Ball, an event organized by the Consular Chamber of Commerce to fund secular school development in sub-Saharan Africa. At the time, Sarah was probably struggling to get her bearings in her newfound lineage, and the multiple ramifications of uncovering it all. I found a snippet of her story while searching for someone else's, and managed to email her friend John.
Aprehensive at first, Sarah agreed to come and speak at our event in Las Vegas. With the support of Von (see Acknowledgments), Sarah Culberson took the stage and told the story few will ever forget. Our participants were proud and substantial contributors to the Kposowa Foundation in 2007, helping to rebuild Bumpe High School.
Sarah Culberson has risen to the occasion in a way that should make her fellow Americans proud. Faced with an overwhelming and emotional ride, she rose above the natural tendancy to become self absorbed, and channels all that attention and energy into a mighty force for good. She is part adopted-kid group therapist, part mixed-race interpreter, part ambassador. She is Princess Bumpenya.
One of the stars I've given the book might be attributed to my friendship with Sarah. The book itself, her first, was put together at monumental speed. The form is fantastic. The dual stories of Sarah and Joseph, told in side-by-side format absolutly grab the reader, making for a great creshendo as the stories merge into one. A few minor proofing errors should be overlooked by those as happy as I am to see this history come to the page.
It will probably be argued that a bit more context may have shed more light on the civil war of Sierra Leone. Though RUF rebels were surely responsible for the atrocities described, it may be important to note that the Sierra Leonian government troops also recruited child soldiers (Ismael Beah ["A Long Way Gone"] among them), in this deadliest and most evil form of warfare. These troops likewise sacked villages, raped and murdered their way across the Country. Death, dismemberment, and drugged child soldiers - ninja-like assisins - stolen from normal lives and programmed as killing machines, characterized both sides of the conflict in those dark years in Sierra Leone.
This book is a tremendous effort and wonderful, timely product. More Americans need to know this collidoscopic story, and nobody is as qualified as Sarah to tell it. In this, we are all her subjects. She is the bridge. I hope we hear more from Sarah on her journey.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I've been following Sarah and the progress her foundation is making in her home town of Bumpe, Sierra Leone now for several years. Her insightful journey shows that miracles can and do happen. She illustrates her identity issues as a bi-racial woman raised in a predominantly white town, and the inner struggles she faces coming to grips with her biological parents. After reading this book, I feel more aware of the struggles that Africa faces, and that one person can make a difference.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As a bi-racial actress, dancer, and teacher, Sara Culberson gradually comes to realize that she wants, and needs, to know her biological and cultural background. Her need isn't born of deprivation or secrecy. She loves the white family that adopted her as a baby and raised her in West Virginia. Her quest is about personal growth and the truths that make adults feel complete and comfortable in their own skin. This book is a wonderful journey of courage and discovery.
Like all adopted children, Sarah built fantasies and illusions about her biological parents and her adoption. As an adult, she began to understand this and to want to replace myths with facts. Since her adoption was a closed, her parents don't have much information to offer. However, they openly answer Sarah's questions as best they can. To learn more, a search for her birth parents is Sarah's only option. Thought gradually evolves into action after a fellow church member tells Sarah that she knew her birth mother.
The warm welcome she received from her birth mother's family, along with the love and support of her adoptive family, left Sarah hungry to know more and ready to take the risks, although the search wasn't always smooth. At one point, she met with the rejection she feared most and it caused her to back off from her search, but eventually, she faced her fear. She also received encouragement from unexpected places. One such person, a hairdresser from Nigeria, knew African culture and customs and assured Sarah that she'd be welcomed.
As I read about her birth father, Joe Kposowa--his youth, his immense responsibilities, and the gigantic cultural differences--there's no doubt that he made the right choice when he signed the papers to relinquish his right to be Sarah's father. In fact, she may owe her life to that decision. His life story, which is interspersed with Sarah's in alternating chapters, is an incredible battle to survive and serve his people during eleven years of war in Sierra Leone. The colorful detail and depth of information about the war and culture put the reader alongside Joe on his frightening journey.
You'll laugh and cry with Sarah, as you relive her experiences, emotions, struggles, and shock. From meeting a huge new family, being honored with the head of an animal on a tray, phone calls at 3 a.m. requesting money for a bicycle, and introducing her adoptive family to her biological families, this story is a roller coaster ride with all the jolts and jars of a trip down the Bumpe road in Sierra Leone. Fortunately, there are also happy endings.
Sarah's story is an informative journey through history, as well as an enlightening glimpse into the lives of her families as they build a future together. This living history lesson shows the reader how events and decisions that seem far removed from real people can affect everyday life. This is a lesson most of us never internalize. The colorful descriptions and meticulous cross-cultural interpretations by the authors enhance this account and make it accessible to readers of all ages and backgrounds. My only wish is that the authors had included a bit more information about the correct pronunciation of the interesting African words.
by Penny Leisch
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
Like all adopted children, Sarah built fantasies and illusions about her biological parents and her adoption. As an adult, she began to understand this and to want to replace myths with facts. Since her adoption was a closed, her parents don't have much information to offer. However, they openly answer Sarah's questions as best they can. To learn more, a search for her birth parents is Sarah's only option. Thought gradually evolves into action after a fellow church member tells Sarah that she knew her birth mother.
The warm welcome she received from her birth mother's family, along with the love and support of her adoptive family, left Sarah hungry to know more and ready to take the risks, although the search wasn't always smooth. At one point, she met with the rejection she feared most and it caused her to back off from her search, but eventually, she faced her fear. She also received encouragement from unexpected places. One such person, a hairdresser from Nigeria, knew African culture and customs and assured Sarah that she'd be welcomed.
As I read about her birth father, Joe Kposowa--his youth, his immense responsibilities, and the gigantic cultural differences--there's no doubt that he made the right choice when he signed the papers to relinquish his right to be Sarah's father. In fact, she may owe her life to that decision. His life story, which is interspersed with Sarah's in alternating chapters, is an incredible battle to survive and serve his people during eleven years of war in Sierra Leone. The colorful detail and depth of information about the war and culture put the reader alongside Joe on his frightening journey.
You'll laugh and cry with Sarah, as you relive her experiences, emotions, struggles, and shock. From meeting a huge new family, being honored with the head of an animal on a tray, phone calls at 3 a.m. requesting money for a bicycle, and introducing her adoptive family to her biological families, this story is a roller coaster ride with all the jolts and jars of a trip down the Bumpe road in Sierra Leone. Fortunately, there are also happy endings.
Sarah's story is an informative journey through history, as well as an enlightening glimpse into the lives of her families as they build a future together. This living history lesson shows the reader how events and decisions that seem far removed from real people can affect everyday life. This is a lesson most of us never internalize. The colorful descriptions and meticulous cross-cultural interpretations by the authors enhance this account and make it accessible to readers of all ages and backgrounds. My only wish is that the authors had included a bit more information about the correct pronunciation of the interesting African words.
by Penny Leisch
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Masterfully Written Tale
The author skillfully tackles the story of Sarah Culberson's personal journey of discovery as she seeks out her biological parents. Read more
Published 2 months ago by M. L. Casey
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book a must read!
Compelling story - enjoyed every detail. A must read - couldn't put it down. My heart goes out to Sarah in her quest to find her biological parents while still loving and... Read more
Published 9 months ago by SAND
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome
I found myself rapped around what was going on and waiting for each turn in the road. Wanting to make sure that she and her family were okay. Very moving book.
Published 19 months ago by MaureenAW
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Princess Found
An interesting read by an African-American female, born on West Virginia, who was adopted by a white family as a baby. Read more
Published 21 months ago by A. Ford
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting story
This is a very interesting story, and I found myself feeling for the people who had to endure the terrible violence in their homeland. Read more
Published on October 30, 2010 by N. Walker Hazewinkel
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful true story by an amazing young woman
I love this book! It's well written and is a compelling story. Sarah tells of her life as a bi-racial girl growing up with a white family in a white town in West Virginia, and... Read more
Published on July 11, 2009 by Kim W. Zook
