I was misled about my black heritage. Here's what it taught me about identity | Georgina Lawton

Children need to feel pride in their racial background, not a sense of shame and denial. Colour-blind parenting can be cruel

What constitutes your personal identity? It's a question you might not have considered before. Perhaps it's never bothered you. The topic of what makes us who we are, and our sense of self, has been discussed since the origins of western philosophy. The central theme in some of the world's most famous novels, such as Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and JK Rowling's Harry Potter is one of identity and the search for self. Yet defining who we are proves notoriously tricky.

Some may think identity as being forged through seminal moments - the birth of a child; perhaps a marriage. Many people see a personal identity as correlating with their ethnicity, nationality, or racial background.