The Other Braxtons
What's in a name?
“Any relation to Toni Braxton?” is a question I’ve gotten used to answering since I was in elementary school. I vividly remember being in line at the lunch counter in the 5th grade when my last name was mentioned by the kid next to me in line. Overhearing this, the lunch lady who was ringing me up beamed, “You know, I worked at the high school Toni went to over in Glen Burnie. I remember her being such a lovely young lady. Are you two related?”
Over the span of my life, I’ve assured the person on the other side of that question that I could not claim any familial ties to the worldwide sensation that is Toni Braxton — even though we come from the same small town, Severn, MD. I could see the thought reflected on a few faces, how uncanny that two black women from the same place in Maryland with the same last name are unrelated. Particularly persistent people would push further, insisting, “You two must be related somehow.”
Much like much of the world, I came to know the “Unbreak My Heart” singer after she was discovered singing outside a local gas station and was soon signed to LaFace Records in 1991. Until then, I had no idea a whole other black family with the same last name lived in the same 5-mile radius as me. By the time I reached the end of high school, the 3 time Grammy winner had become an internationally recognized celebrity. From then on, the same series of questions regularly followed whenever someone learned my last name.
After returning home from Ghana, I happened upon a framing store not far from my apartment, heading away from the tourist area shops of Málaga Centro. On my way to take a second-hand skirt into a clothing store for alterations, I turned down a street I had never crossed before. It had taken me almost a year after moving to the south of mainland Spain to discover the spots where the small shops and local services didn’t levy the same tourist tax as the city center.
During my time in the Ivory Coast, I was introduced to a charming, energetic, talented young artist with a booth at the Accra Arts Center, who goes by Selfking Art. Out of all the artwork I came across that day, I was drawn to his paintings because they were originals, unlike the copies sold by most of the other vendors. He pulled dozens of paintings out of piles of canvases. Colorful depictions of sprawling villages, warriors, full-figured women working, and other scenes of everyday life, accented with African-print cutouts.
The painting I selected to bring home was one of three women side by side with matching wide hips and small waists, carrying boxes and baskets. Their patterned figures facing the bright pastel background as they set out to sell the goods balanced on their heads. One of the most memorable parts of being in the capital city of Ghana was marveling at these women working in the streets out of the car window. Seeing as this was the first canvas painting I ever purchased, it meant a lot to me and reminded me of a pivotal point in my life. I was determined to frame it properly, and for a reasonable price.
I hadn’t had any luck finding a place to frame the painting by searching on my phone. This seemed to be commonplace in Spain since not all mom-and-pop style stores had digital listings. Since I was on my way somewhere else, I made a mental note to come back to the framing store and check their prices.
A week later, I walked in with my rolled-up canvas and managed to string together enough Spanish words to request a quote to frame my first painting from Africa. After looking over their selection I picked a cream colored frame that complemented the pastels in background of the artwork perfectly.
The cheerful man wearing glasses behind the counter pulled out a receipt pad and asked for my name to write at the top. “Serita Braxton,” I said, ready to follow up with the spelling of my name. Before writing anything down, the man looked up at me and smiled. In an Andalucian accent, he exclaimed, “Braxton! Like Toni Braxton?” I was shocked when he began to belt out “Unbreak my heart, say you’ll love me againnn...” I was stunned into a smile that, so far away from home, someone still made the connection between she and I and our last name.
