Fourth Estate
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers,
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Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 1992
First published by Birch Lane Press 1991
Copyright © Monteith M. Illingworth 1991
Monteith Illingworth asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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Source ISBN: 9780586216781
Ebook Edition © MAY 2016 ISBN: 9780008193355
Version: 2016-05-13
For Crystal, the love of my life
“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination—indeed, everything and anything except me.”
* * *
“You ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world, that you’re part of all the sound and anguish and you strike out with your fists, you curse and you swear to make them recognize you. And, alas, it’s seldom successful.”
—Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Contents
Part Two: The Champion Betrayed
Not much is known about Lorna Tyson. She was born Loma Smith in 1930, probably in the South. Like so many other blacks after World War II, she migrated north in search of work and more social freedoms. There is no account of her keeping in touch with or ever seeing her parents, siblings, or any other relatives. Mike Tyson had no recollection of such extended family on his mother’s side. He has described Lorna as around five-foot-six with a big, sturdy frame. She had medium-brown skin and dull-gray hair that waved back from her wide face. She wore glasses and had an air of quiet dignity.
At