In 2018, the world celebrated the first biracial woman to enter the British royal family in modern history. For many, Meghan Markle was their very first Black princess outside of Disney’s Princess Tiana. Of course there are many Black princesses living around the world. Disney has decided to bring the incredible story of an African princess to life on the big screen. Sarah Culberson was adopted as an infant by the Culberson family in West Virginia. When she was 21 she decided to search for her birth parents. She discovered she was a princess with a deep heritage rooted in the Mende people of Sierra Leone. Her story caught the attention of Disney and now they are making a movie about it. Below are a few more details from the South China Morning Post:
Culberson – who was adopted by Jim and Judy Culberson, a white couple living in West Virginia, US – started looking for her birth mother at 21, but learned that she succumbed to cancer 10 years prior.
She was then terrified to find her birth father. She took her friend’s suggestion and hired a private investigator for US$25, as told to Business Insider. The investigator eventually returned with a promising lead and connected Culberson to her biological aunt who lived in nearby Maryland.
Then, her uncle revealed her identity as a princess of the Mende tribe in Sierra Leone. It was a revelation, and Culberson flew to the country to visit her biological dad.
In 2004, Princess Sarah arrived in Bumpe, Sierra Leone. At the time, the country was recovering from an 11-year civil war. The situation was bleak. Schools and communities were ravaged and destroyed.
The gravity of the situation led her to establish non-profit foundation Sierra Leone Rising, which advocates for education, women’s empowerment and public health safety. It also promoted Mask on Africa, a campaign that encourages people to wear masks to curb Covid-19.Princess Sarah co-wrote and published A Princess Found in 2009, chronicling her life story and the discovery of her royal lineage. Her book caught the attention of Disney executives and will be adapted into a film. CNN reported that it’s still in the early phase of development.
The movie will be produced by Stephanie Allain, who became the first woman of colour to produce the Academy Awards ceremony last year, according to NBC News.
[From South China Morning Post]
This story caught my attention a few months ago, but at the time it was still up in the air whether Disney was going to make the movie about Sarah. I am so glad they have decided to go through with the project. There isn’t a release date set yet but I think that Sarah’s story is a beautiful and inspiring one. It’s impressive that she started her non-profit Sierra Leone Rising to help the Mende people. I also like the fact that Sarah is also an actress who has had a few cameos in well known shows. However this story pans out, I hope that Disney does her story justice. I personally will be waiting for the movie. I love that Sarah’s particular princess story is not about a “fair” maiden marrying into a royal family but about a Black woman learning her royal heritage after growing up with adoptive parents half a world away. Until the movie’s release date is announced, I will be looking into Sarah’s organization that was set up to help the Mende people.
Here is Sarah’s interview with Tamron Hall from last fall.
After everything going on with royal families right now (*cough* Nonce Prince), and everything we all know about royal families from history 101 in high school… who the hell still dreams with being a princess? Abolish monarchy, y’all.
Sarah seems to be an amazing woman and I hope her story is done justice, but I hope it doesn’t turn into another vapid romantisation of monarchies and royalty.
As an adoptee, I tend to look at the story through that lens. We tend to idealize our natural parents and imagine them to be all kinds of things. I have never tried to find my natural parents, but I did one of those DNA tests and white ass me is not actually white, and I could not be more thrilled, it turns out my mom might have been black ! It’s so great! (And of course I know those tests are not that accurate, lol, but let a girl dream)
I love that she took that moment in her life and knowledge of her history etc to start a non-profit. Looking forward to the movie!
I applaud Sarah for researching her biological roots and embracing her biological father, embracing and accepting him. Sarah seems to have been granted wonderful parents that raised her to be the empathetic, loving, caring, dedicated and compassionate woman.
As a woman that placed her child up for adoption when I became pregnant at the age of 34, while being a divorced mother of two, who placed her child for adoption, I must admit that I am jealous of her reaching out to her birth parents and forgiving them. I had to place my child for adoption, as I was trying to raise 2 children on my own with an ex-husband that lived 200 miles away with no family within 1,300 miles. It was and still is gut wrenching to have gone through that on my own and to have never been contacted by him. I had to do it as I couldn’t raise him on my own and I knew that someone else out in the world desperately wanted a child. Even though I am pro-choice, I decided that I wanted to share my happiness of being a parent to a couple that would experience the same happiness and joy.
As an adopted child I know the pain of separation no matter how wonderful your adoptive family is. For me it took until my mid thirties to reach out and it was still very scary because you don’t know what your origin story may be. Also my adoptive parents did not ever want to talk about my being adopted, and the few family members that knew that I contacted bio family made it clear that they felt I was rejecting the whole family, and so I felt quite guilty. I guess I want you to know that I personally always felt very close to my mum, never blamed her or my father, even though I never eventually got to meet her (she died young). I bet your child shares some of those feelings.
@ NICK G, thank you for sharing your thoughts and appreciation for your birth Mum. I have been actively keeping my feelings of pain and emotional anguish buried deep down for so many years. It was an excellent coping mechanism but after I posted my experience as a birth mum, it immediately brought me back to that summer morning that I gave birth to him, as I handed him over into the arms of the adoption representative, whose only concern was the adoptive parents.
I only wanted someone that didn’t have the physical ability to have children, as I have always loved being pregnant!!
Please keep in mind that your Mum was solely wanting to ensure that you would have the best opportunities in life offered to you that she, and possibly the birth father, could not offer you at that moment or the foreseeable future. That she loves you with all of her heart. She still remembers what your head smells like that morning, and how tiny your hands were. Your birth Mums sole purpose was to give you what she could not. She loves you as she always has since you were growing, but more so when you would stick your foot under the lung to which you would have to move to give you more room.
I am sorry that you were not able to meet your birth Mum, but I think I can speak for her. She has always loved you and yearned for you no matter where she is.
You are an adult now and reaching out to your birth parents is a natural desire to know more about how you came to be where you are now. I hope that you have a beautiful life and are extremely happy and loved!!
@Both Thank you so much, I read that with tears in my eyes. I am older now (wrote more below) but even a stranger reminding me of that means everything. I wish the same for your son and wish you nothing but peace and happiness ❤️ ❤️
It’s a shame the Occident need to westernise Africa to such an extent.
I’ve been to Sierra Leone, as my kid’s father works there. I’ve met the people of the Mende tribe. Their society is governed by Chiefs and Paramount Chiefs. There are no Prince and Princesses out there!
That is how you use privilege. This lovely woman took the whole of herself and is using it to make everyone’s lives better. What a great story.
I heard about her story from a youtube video a few months ago. She said in an interview that when she got to her father’s village, everyone was there to celebrate her arrival with her family. During her time there she saw people left disabled by the civil war, the lack of infrastructure, and the need for clean water. She had the choice between leaving the people that welcomed her despite her being a stranger or trying and help them however she could. She chose the second. She is a wonderful person and the kind of Disney princess that I would love my (future) children to learn about.
It’s really interesting that she ended up in the US to be adopted. With a family and tribe like that? I’m really interested to hear the circumstances.
According to Wikipedia, she was born in the US to a white American mother and a black Sierra Leonean royalty father. This makes a lot more sense when you look at her standing next to her Sierra Leonean counterparts because I was super confused at first. Not to make it all about appearance, but she is a lot lighter than them. I was also wondering how the heck a white couple from the US adopted a baby from Sierra Leone from the tribe of a royal family, that made no sense whatsoever. It makes a lot more sense when you know her mother was a white American woman and she was born in the US. Her father was a visiting college student at the time when he met her mother. So she didn’t go to Sierra Leone until she was an adult and was not born there. The article above leaves out all those details which are actually pretty important because the added details do portray the story in a whole different light.
Still a really cool story and it’s awesome she’s running a nonprofit there and has reconnected with her family and her roots.
I will be watching this!
Reminds me a tiny bit of the Princess In Theory book by Alyssa Cole that I keep hoping gets made into a movie.
But this will also be a fantastic story to bring to the screen
Hahaha, I totally thought, “does Alyssa Cole know about this?!”
Great article Oya and I am sure I will get lost down the rabbit hole today reading more about her!
Great story and woman!
What an amazing story!
I found her on Instagram a while ago and have been following along ever since. She’s got such a bright, fun personality. Congrats on her storying being picked up for a major movie! I’ll be excited to watch when it’s released!
I read about her earlier this summer. It’s a wonderful story. She has a great adoptive family that supported her efforts to find her birth family. And when she found her birth family, they embraced her. She’s used her new platform to bring awareness and is helping her people. Hope Disney does right by her story.
I love this and will definitely watch the movie.
I love this and will definitely watch the movie.
Wow, what an amazing story! I hope the film about her is well done.
That photo of her with the other women and children is so beautiful.
This is so funny. I remember reading about her years ago, and almost fell on the floor in the bookstore because it was my story too.About twenty years ago, I went looking for my biological mother in Scotland, found out she died of cancer when I was 12, went looking for my father and found him in London. He was a Nigerian chief, and @ Mirage for whatever it’s worth the family and friends all referred to me, and my younger sister whom I had just met as princesses.
Wow! What an amazing story and exciting (but also a bit scary from what you noted above ) journey to finding out more about yourself. Do you have a relationship with your birth father now?
Thanks Golly Gee. I had a year to get to know him and then he died (of cancer too). The drama that took place after that was unbelievable, as a result I am not in contact with the Nigerian side ( although it was life changing and wonderful meeting them). I was the firstborn come back and that posed some problems to the family/dynasty. However my Mum’s side was amazing too, her best friend had married her brother, my uncle and so I got lots of information and love from them. I remember the first night staying over at their house , I finally understood the completely organic nature of love.
Not sure if you’ll see this, but thank you for the reply, Nick G. What a fascinating history. I’m sorry you didn’t get to meet your birth mother, but I’m so glad you found nurturing and love from her brother and family. ❤️