"A Black Grandmother" is an essay taken from Sally Morgan's autobiographical account My Place. The essay is about Sally's quest for discovery of her family's indigenous or aboriginal roots.
In February, 1996 Australian currency changed the money. Sally became curious about the money her grandmother had been collecting in a jar. She asked her mother why she had been doing that and her mother replied that one day that money would be worth a lot. Sally went up to her grandmother and told her she was Crazy. But her mother told her not to tell the government that they had money stored the money in their house. Sally had an ambition to become an artist but no one encouraged her to become one. She thought painting and drawing were her special talents. So, she decided to burn all the paintings and drawings that she had done. Her mother and grandmother were horrified to see what she had done. It took approximately a month for her to forgive her family for not encouraging her to draw.
One day after school she reached her home and saw her grandmother crying on the table. She asked her what was wrong, and she blamed Sally that she didn't like her grandmother because she was black. Sally discussed this situation with Jill. Sally thought they came from India, but Jill explained to her they were Aboriginal, all they could do was just accept it. When it came to confronting her mother and grandmother, they just denied the fact they were Aboriginal. Her mother went up to Sally and told her to stop hassling her grandmother because she was becoming sick. Sally's junior exams were coming up and her mother was anxious for her. She wanted her do well. Then she put a real effort in her study. This was the first time she actually bothered staying up late and studied. She ended up passing. Actually she wished she would fail so that her mother would have no choice for her to continue on.
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