Unmasking the Secret Life Behind White Passing

The concept of racial passing is where individuals from one racial group are perceived or pass as members of another racial group. Historically prevalent in the United States, racial passing often involved Black or multiracial individuals assimilating into the white majority to navigate societal barriers like harsh racial segregation and discrimination.

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Sources:

[teshara]

The adoption agency told my parents I'd be able to pass and gave me to a white family. My mom painstakingly straightened my hair every day. No one told me I was biracial until I was in my teens and then it was to be kept a secret.
I told EVERYONE.
I'm also not that old. I was born in the 70's. This crap is still going on.

[tlyoung]

A lot of "White" people are not as white as they think they are. America is mixed and we should embrace it. ❤

[BrianMax]

Somebody passed as white and became my ancestor. As a child I was told that my many great great great grandmother was Cherokee. 23andMe shows I have 0 native american DNA, but 3% Congolese. It's a sad indictment of American history that people had to pass as white or another race to gain opportunities they otherwise wouldn't have.

[goyoelburro]

As a 56 year old white man who grew up in a mostly white high school, I *really really appreciate this kind of content. It helps me learn and grow!*
I know you mean your content to reach out to the back community, but I want to let you know that as a side effect you are also educating white folks who really need to hear this as well!

[Tigerbrown]

My father was a mulatto. His mother was 12 years old when she gave birth to him. He was born in Tennessee in 1929. My father looked racially ambiguous but too dark to pass for white. He reinvented himself as an Arab. Gave himself an Arabic name and claimed to be from Iraq. My white mother thought he was Arab. Everyone i met who knew him believed him to be an Arab. I grew up believing i was mixed Arab and white. I was 52 years old when i took DNA test and discovered there was no Arab in my chart, but there was 25% west African. Mostly from Nigeria. He disowned his family and disowned his three children.. he lived the rest of his life as this character. The ancestry test linked me up to his side of the family and i met them. All black folks from Chicago. When i was younger most people thought i was a light skinned brother with green eyes and “good hair” as i got older and went bald people perceived me as white. So l have been on both sides of the color line.

[DrKb]

My grandfather was mixed and could have passed for white, BUT REFUSED! HE STOOD UP AGAINST RACISIM IN KENTUCKY & MARRIED A foundational black American and had 7 sons ( one being my father). My father and mom had stories of racial hatred towards blacks but NEVER told me and my siblings "what they really experienced" until I was an adult. 😢

[Niźhonibarbercuts]

Interesting. On my dad’s side some people disappeared because they could pass. The family never heard from them again. Sad. A lot of them stayed, proud to identify as black despite hardships.

[EyeoIsis]

Boy did this hit home for me. My family has "passers" who wouldn't acknowledge us in the street, but would call to see how the family was doing.

[maryannhope]

💔 I'm from a biracial family. At 70 i can't believe it is still happening and racist continues to this day 😭 Aren't we the Human Race...

[deeMo]

I’m black/creole Japanese. I believe I’m passing. Nobody believes I’m black until I show pictures or they meet my family. People assume I’m a pale Hispanic, Italian, or Filipino

[hennyvanveldhuizen]

I went to school with a lovely darkskinned boy who’s sister was blonde and green eyed, his other sister was even darker than he was, all the same parents, you just never know, they were all 16 % Indonesian …., he was my best friend when I was little

[vfry]

Creole American woman here from the south and this was refreshing and relatable. I am SO happy that you are spreading this. AS, it was TRULY a thing once upon a time. One love

[Thatboybecookinyea]

My great grandma passedas white. Being from New Orleans this is super common thing.

[daniellem.gibson]

My African American grandfather used to always says “just be glad you can pass.” 😢

[angeljones]

J.edger Hoover also passed as a White man. He kept his hair cut short because it was extremely curly. One day in the early 90th or mid 90th a black woman came on the Oprah Winfrey show claiming J.edger Hoover was her cousin and he threatened his black family if they say anything about his true identity that he would kill them his mother was pregnant with him when she married his step father Hoover she was a white woman that was carrying a black man child. Shortly after Oprah show J.edger was dug up they ran a test on his body and the black family he was passing for white

[markwoods]

There’s long and unpleasant history of racism and discrimination😡

[lindarosebuchanan]

I appreciate this podcast. Many Africans Americans who were able to pass did so due to psychological abuse of constantly being verbally abused by their own families and the community. Light skinned women often met with assault and verbal insults. Often these women were targeted for sexual exploitation by both black and white men. Light skinned women had to bear the burden of being put on a pedestal due to internalized hatred of melanated skin. This also caused isolated and a sense of not belonging.

[patrickanitataylor]

Walter F. White was my Great-great Uncle. 💙
Unlike some who were "Black-passing-White", our Uncle Walter was doing what he did occasionally to infiltrate the most evil KKK for his beloved NAACP...
Other than that, he loved his Blackness & his Black family!!!❤️
Most Blacks who knew him, knew this about him.


R.I.P.:
```°•.🕊️.🌹•💙°🕊️Uncle Walter🕊️°💙•🌹.🕊️ .•°```

[gladysmorgan]

My Daddy Refused to Pass ! He Was From Louisiana and Looked So Damn yt . He WENT To A Texas Jail, He Was put with the yt population. He Told the authorities I'm Black ! And at first they refused to Move Him. He Was Adamant Only then did they move Him.

[michealjones]

I am the son of a black woman and a white man I don't know my biological father and my mother never talked about him I'm sure he was a trick ! She married a Black man his name is on my birth certificate ! He and my mother raised me but I can easily pass for white ! My Mother her sisters and her mother were all beautiful yellow Black women my grandfather was a Brown skinned Black man I have never identified as white I even used to try to fight anyone who called me white boy I grew up in the hood and had to do some crazy things before my people understood I was not to be fucked with !!!! Now I'm a old head easily mistaken for a old white man but I'm still in the hood married a few Beautiful Black women got a gang of beautiful Black children and grandchildren and I've always been a Black man