Passing | Episode 1: Lost and Found

In the series premiere, Robin begins the journey of piecing together the life and history of her cousin, Willa Mae Watson Lane, who passed for white and spent most of her life living a lie.

Directed by Robin Cloud.

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PASSING:
For decades, African American comedian and filmmaker Robin Cloud had heard tales about the “Nebraska cousins,” a branch of her family that moved away from the East Coast to pass for white in the rural Midwest. In this six-part series, Cloud attempts to find and understand the motives of the relatives who left everything and everyone else behind, and documents how their progeny grapple with the revelation that they aren’t who they thought they were.

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Topic is an ambitious entertainment & storytelling studio from First Look Media, dedicated to working with creators at the forefront of culture.

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[shecamt]

It's so wild because you can look at them and tell they are mixed.

[intodaysepisode...]

I believe Black people can identify those passing much easier than others because we know how vast our tones are. I've always been of the thought group that J. Edgar Hoover was passing!

[TinaThompsonPlayingtheField]

Wow! What a revelation, Robin. As a woman who just discovered that she was 37% black, this really resonates. Can't wait to watch more of this journey!

[rockirichardson]

The fact that they're instinctively uninterested in embracing their black heritage speaks volumes on the existence of white privilege. This is their actual family with receipts. The black experience in America is nothing to opt into in anyone's eyes. I'm still however very proud of my family and roots. This was a great story to tell and told well.

[msoda]

My mother was mixed and had a brother who when she was 16 and he was 18 told her his was going to be white and she never saw him again. My mother spent her life in weird situations when she was around White people who didn't know she was part black and would often hear them say very racist things about black people.

[donnabanks]

Appreciate this story because our family has a similar story. My great grandmother's sisters disowned their family, married white men moved to a different state and passed as white. She also had children. I wished I could meet some of those relatives.

[dwillwrite]

I;m wondering how the cousin passed for white when she looks black.

[purplevamp]

My mother passed for professional reasons. She wore a wig. Although she married a White man (my father) she didn't hide it from him.

[cynthiapickett]

I can relate to this story, but these people don't exactly look white!

[nyebots]

I wonder why the film maker opened up with the stand up joke about beards, oral sex and pubic hair? Seems out of place and overall, wasn't all that funny.

[catgirl]

They should do a series on some creole families in Louisiana. Tons of them were passing back then. What they would do is marry others that were light like them so their offspring would look white. A lot of my family moved from LA to TX and my dad's cousin could pass but I don't know if she did or not. When my dad wanted to stay at her house to have time to find a house before he moved the rest of the family, she didn't want him to stay with him because he was too dark. Mind you, my dad was pretty light skinned. Ridiculous.

[byrdie]

These kinky afros have me weak. How in the hell did they think they were white?

[quantaeduncan]

OMG! This is my family! I'm a Ragin from Summerton, SC!

[minnied]

This happened so often. I know a few lighter skinned families that have had adult family members "disappear". I found a famous deceased cousin on ancestry. The cousin and current family believe they descend from Native Americans. This person even joked about the ancestor white passing in a book. It's crazy. A black person, passing as a half white and indigenous, also passing as white.

[tyndararobinson]

I definitely appreciate this story because this too is my family. Growing up in a military family never allowed me the full experience of being around my family. I remember traveling to Summerton, SC for the Watson -Ragin family reunions. This is amazing

[Msapril]

My great grandfather passed as white. He killed himself in his late 30's leaving the next 3 generations with nothing but questions. So, when I hear somebody talking about worshipping their ancestors I just shake my head in disbelief. If people only knew that the whole United states is so mixed up you dont know where you come from. Half the black race is really white and half the whites are black. Ppl seen black panther and ran with that ancestor stuff cause it wasn't even a thing until that movie. If you want to worship a bunch of mixed up people who didn't even want to be themselves then you are in for a hellish surprise.

[reebok]

Wow no way!! This is my family!!! So much nostalgia

[LexxiMerced]

This reminds me of the movie "The Human Stain"..

[sedecim]

This is wonderful Lille sista. Helping folks find their blackness with love

[alantaylor]

Great video!

I can totally relate to this because my Ohio family has been both black and or white or BOTH for many centuries starting way back since the mid-1600s in Virginia and Maryland. We migrated into Madison County, Kentucky by the late 1790s.

Our earliest known ancestor was a mixed Virginian Powhaton Indian and black man who was taken as a child prisoner during the Powhaton-Anglo war. He then made into a indentured servant for Gov. William Stone in Charles County, Mayland. He later married a white indentured servant woman whom they had children and the rest is history!

Today my family on average is 60% African and 40% European with native American.