Christina Holmes

Passing

I decided to conduct my research on the reasons why people of color, mainly African Americans, chose to “pass,” and or consider themselves as “other,” and how this ties into the immigrant narrative. I selected this topic mainly because I wanted to find out why those who chose to live their life under a different identity did so and in doing so did they experience a better life with less struggles than they would have under their true identity.

I began my research by looking for data directly related to “passing,” “black and white marriages” as well as “mixed marriages” in general. As I delved further into the information I found out that there was a plethora of information relating to all of the aforementioned topics. In addition I also found that it is a practice that is dated. In order to confine the research; I began to weed out information that was not directly linked to “passing.” In doing so I structured my research to entail the following;

·        Definition

·        Data pertaining to the number of people who “pass.”

·        Racial makeup of those “Passing.”

·        Reasons for “passing.”

·        How information links to immigrant narrative

·        Present trends

I felt that the above information would provide the most accurate account of the topic and answer any questions relating to the topic.

Passing, a term that refers to an African American, Black or Negro (term used during the early 1900s when passing was most prevalent), who leaves his or her own race and enters into the dominant culture under the pretense of being Caucasian.   According to research conducted by Burma, “It is not an unknown practice, and it has been a part of history for well over [two] hundred years” (18). The ability to undertake this practice began with individuals who were often African American who had been mistaken for being Caucasian, normally because their blood line had been mixed with Caucasian blood.

 According to research conducted during the decade between 1930 and 1940, 26,000 African Americans ceased being considered African American and entered the dominant culture, classifying themselves as Caucasians.  The process by which this information was gathered entailed several different tactics; “gathering genealogies by  direct questioning, noting discrepancies between observed numbers of [African Americans] in the census of birth and death figures and noting the deviations from normal in the sex ratio of [African Americans]”( Conyers and Kennedy 454).  Given that the information is dated and the topic of “passing” is somewhat passé, current trends pertaining to the practice are very small and research is basically difficult to locate. This is partly due to the changes in conditions for the African Americans social and economic status.

The majority of those who chose to “pass,” were normally individuals who were products of mixed parentage in which their skin color and facial features  enabled them to hide their Negroid features, or they were second and third generation children from mixed parentage who had mixed so much there was no visible evidence that they were African American. According to the article How Many “Pass”? by E.W. Eckard, “[I]ntermarriage with whites seemed to reduce the Negroid appearance”(498).  Therefore, the ability to “pass” as a Caucasian became easier with each generation that married Caucasian.

There were many factors as to why individuals chose to “pass.” Among the most beneficial as detailed by  Conyers and Kennedy, in their article, Negro Passing: To Pass or Not to Pass “[T]he more common reasons given as to why a Negro might undertake to pass are improved economic and vocational opportunities” (216). Due to the majority of better paying jobs requiring training and or technical education and because the circumstances for African Americans were adversely against them, the ability for them to secure gainful employment  and better their living standards was difficult. Another reason why individuals chose to pass was that entrance into the dominant culture’s illusion of the “American Dream”   provided many advantages that were not available to African Americans: “[P]assing [was a] means of obtaining recreational, social and cultural advantages not found extensively in the Negro group” (Conyers and Kennedy 216). Although African Americans had been given their freedoms, the circumstances in the social, private, economic, recreational and cultural sector did not always support their liberties. Entering the dominant culture by means of another identity afforded them the privileges associated with the dominant culture of the Caucasians and enabled them to life a life within the “American Dream.”

In linking the topic to the immigrant narrative, and the quest for the “American Dream” I found information on one particular family,   The Healy’s who held the secret of “passing” for generations. Michael Healy,  was an Irish immigrant who emigrated to Georgia in 1819. Healy took unto himself one of his own slaves, Eliza Clark, as his common-law wife, since miscegenation, sexual relations between African Americans and Caucasians, was against the law during those times   Healy and his common-law wife produced ten children, all of which varied in skin colors. Eliza, aware that marriage without legal documentation was “de facto” (O’Toole 17), entered into the union because of the many benefits associated with it: Eliza gained freedom otherwise unattainable; and more sacred, the children would avoid the “rule of the day,"— the inherited slavery of their mother. In addition to her children not being labeled as slaves, she too enjoyed the fruits of the dominant culture, “Eliza Healy accepted this rare opportunity to participate in the dominant, white culture”(O’Toole18). However secure in their identity, protected by their fathers influence, his inevitable death left them fearing that the conditions would change. Healy then made arrangements for them to travel north, where slavery had been abolished. His children upon arrival into the northern parts such as Montreal immediately documented themselves as Caucasians. Several of the Healy children in desperation of keeping their parentage secret opted not to marry, for fear their children would bring to light the secret of their true identity, and joined the Catholic religion becoming priests and nuns. Under these circumstances, “passing” provided the Healy children an opportunity to live out a life with all the amenities associated with the American Dream, which had been their fathers dream in migrating to the United States in 1819.

Present trends indicate that the need for “passing,” is no longer a necessity. This is directly attributed to the changes in history for African Americans: recognized freedoms of their fundamental rights and open opportunity in economic and educational growth. In addition the laws of miscegenation are no longer valid and the rise in interracial marriages is widely accepted not to mention as stated by Romano, “In the last [twenty-four] years, however any consensus among couples that children of interracial marriages should be raised as [African American] has disappeared” (279).  These changes indicate that mindsets have also become more accepting and the idea of “passing” is no longer as sought after as it once was.

In understanding the meaning of “passing” and the prestigious benefits associated with the practice:  civil liberties—better employment, education and a life complete with racial acceptance, entrance into the dominant culture, and most inviting the access to the elements of the American Dream, it is therefore not difficult to understand why an individual would want to leave their own race and submerge themselves into another.

Personal Reflection;

Speaking as in individual who has experienced the disease of discrimination, due to being the product of an interracial marriage, I can attest to the benefits of submerging into another race. I did it myself, but not to the dominant culture. I chose the Puerto Rican identity, not because I was trying to find the American Dream, but because I was looking for acceptance and since all sides of my ethnicities, African American, Mexican American, Native American and Caucasian made me feel unaccepted, I felt that by submerging myself into this race of people I could get lost in the crowd—where no one would identify me.

Works Cited

Burma, John H. “The Measurement Of Negro ‘Passing’.” American Journal of

            Sociology52.1(1963).5 Nov. 2007

            <http://www.jstor.org/view/00029602/dm992445/99p06186/0?>.

Conyers, James E. and T. H. Kennedy.  “Negro Passing: To Pass or Not to Pass.” Phylon  4.3(1963). 5 Nov. 2007

            <http://ww.jstor.org/view/00318906/ap010053/01a00010/0?>.

Conyers, James E. and T. H. Kennedy. “Reported Knowledge Negro and White College Students Have of Negroes Who Have Passed as Whites.” The Journal of Negro Education 33.4(1964). 5 Nov.2007

            <http://www.jstor.org/view/00222984/di990374/99p0743d/0?>.

Eckard, E.W. “How Many Negroes ‘Pass’.” American Journal of Sociology 52.6(1946).  5 Nov. 2007 <http://www.jstor.org/view/00029602/dm992450/99p0774q/2?>.

O’Toole, James. Passing For White: Race , Religion, and the Healy Family, 1820-1920. U of Massachusetts p,2002.

Romano, Renee C. Race Mixing: Black and White Marriage In Postwar America. Cambridge of Harvard P,2003.