Adopted Black American woman finds out that she is an African princess at 28
Princess Sarah Culberson discovered that she belonged to a royal family at the age of 28 after searching for her biological family for years.
Today marks Africa Day, a day where Africans are to celebrate and acknowledge the successes of the Organisation of African Unity (now African Union) since its creation on 25 May 1963 in the fight against colonialism and apartheid.
Due to colonialism and apartheid, many families were separated and divided.
Princess Sarah is one of those whose parents were separated because of the unjust systems. She ended up being adopted by a white family.
The princess says from a young age she had to deal with people in America asking why she looked different from her white siblings.
It was only when she was in first year of graduate school where she managed to track down her biological mother's family.
Sadly, though she found them, she learned that her mom had passed away from cancer.
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Princess Sarah says she was skeptical about looking for her father, until she realised that the unjust systems could have pressurised him to make the decisions he made.
The young princess then went on a mission to search for her dad. She hired a private investigator who then traced her father's family.
She was then advised to write a letter to them.
Fortunately, within a few days, she got a phone call from the family.
"And then my uncle gets on the phone. He goes, 'Oh, Sarah, we are so happy you've been found. Do you know who you are and I'm like, 'I'm Sarah?'. He says you are part of a royal family. Your great-grandfather was a paramount chief, your grandfather, your uncle runs a chiefdom of 45,000 now 70,000. You can be chief. You are considered a princess in this country," says Sarah in an interview with Now This.
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Fast forward and the princess met with her father and had a great welcome home ceremony.
But, the realities of being a princess was that it is not all glamourous. Princess Sarah got to see the harsh realities that people in Sierra Leone were living in because of an 11-year civil war they had just come out of.
She and her biological and adoptive family formed a charity organisation where they help the people of Sierra Leone.
The Princess has turned her story into a book, 'A Princess Found', which she hopes to turn into a movie.
She says her story is aimed at encouraging black Americans to search for their roots and reconnect with their families.
Image courtesy of Facebook/ @Nowthis