What Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff’s Life Can Teach Us About Blackness

Described as geniuses, they could speak and read English, German and French at the age of 3, drive a (stick) car at 6, fly a plane at 16. They graduated from high school at 14 and hosted their first show on national TV at 18. Over the decades, they authored many scientific books and triggered criticism from the academic community for their lack of scientific rigor. They were always somehow hanging in there, close to the highest levels of power as the country went from being led by leftist, rightist (and in-between, some would say) presidents. We knew from their name that they were of Central European descent. We also vaguely knew that they had aristocratic roots and grew up in a castle in the country. What the public opinion vastly didn’t know, or chose to forget, is that they were also Black (by US standards) or quarterons (“one-quarter Black”) as we regrettably still say in France. Or, to be more precise, they were partly of Black descent, but their Blackness is up to debate. <a href="https://fatihassane.medium.com/what-igor-and-grichka-bogdanoff-can-teach-us-about-blackness-4f015e3ac183">Read More</a>