Longfellow was born as Baby Kelly on December 9, 1944, on Staten Island, New York to Andrea Lorraine Kelly, who was barely sixteen years old (born November 17, 1928). The young mother finally named the child "Pamela" when required to by the US Vital Records Office, then put her baby in foster care while she worked at many jobs during the last of the war years. When the infant Pamela contracted pneumonia, she was removed from the foster home. The girl was taken in by a relative of her mother's father. Pamela was removed from this "home" when it was discovered this relative's husband was abusive. Pamela was never told about her biological father until she was 27; she was told only that he was Native American but never learned his name.