Birth and Childhood
She was born Peggy Ann Freeman in Detroit, Michigan to Nathaniel A. and Peggy Freeman (née Hertzog). She was the youngest of three daughters. In January 1965, her mother fatally shot her father in self-defense as he was reportedly abusive.
Despite the parentage stated on her birth certificate, she insisted that her biological father was a man with the surname Luna and that her mother was Indigenous Mexican and of Afro-Egyptian lineage. According to Luna, one of her grandmothers was reportedly a former Irish actress who married a black interior decorator. Whether any of this background is true is uncertain. Luna's sister later described her as being "a very weird child, even from birth, living in a wonderland, a dream." She would routinely create fantasies about her background and herself.
As a teen, she attended the prestigious Cass Technical High School where she studied journalism and was in the school choir. It was during this time that she began calling herself "Donyale". She was later described by friends and classmates as being "kind of a kook".
Read more about this topic: Donyale Luna
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