In 1930, My Family Passed for White

native ancestry dna test

My great grandmother Lola tried to pass for white, but now we are starting to piece together the truth about her Creole and Native American roots and find our family history.
In Episode 1, I explore what we were told in NY regarding our Louisiana heritage and genealogy.

Want to rewatch any of "Finding Lola"? Here's the series:

Watch the Episode 1 that started the whole journey:

Watch Episode 2 here:

Watch Episode 3 here:

Watch Episode 4 here:

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Come join me on a new docu-series that explores identity, racial tensions in the South during the 20th century, DNA secrets and the unique experiences of those who historically called Louisiana home.
My name is Danielle Romero, and all my life, I have romanticized Louisiana.
Growing up in New York, it represented a place where I could step back the sepia-toned life of my great grandmother, Lola Perot, who died before I was born.
Now, it was time to go back to Louisiana--although I had no idea what the truth would be or what questions to ask---who was Lola really? Who were we?

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[marathongirl]

I am African American and my paternal great grandmother was biracial (blk/white). She looked like a white woman, fair skin, blue eyes, straight hair and spoke like a southern black woman. Born in 1903, she could have easily passed as a white woman. I’m so proud she did not and instead graduated from a historically black college, Grambling University in the 1920s. She passed away at 103 yrs old.

[jaelzion]

My GrandDad didn't deliberately pass for white, but he was sometimes mistaken for white. There was a little hotel in Texas where GrandDad stayed whenever he passed through there (circa 1939). There were no issues until on one trip, he brought my Dad with him. My Dad was brown-skinned and obviously African-American. The proprietor of the hotel asked GrandDad "Who's this you got with you?" GrandDad said "This is my younger boy" and gave him my Dad's name. The hotel owner was mortified. He told my GrandDad "Reverend, I had no idea. I can't let you stay in my hotel, the Klan would burn it down. But I'll tell you what, you can stay in the guest room of my house." So my father and grandfather did exactly that, they stayed in his guest room that night and moved on the next morning. GrandDad never stopped at that hotel again.

[BESTILL-bujw]

My mother is from Louisiana and now deceased but she always told me some of our relatives and family friends passed for white back in the 20s, 30s, and 40s in order to get jobs and live better lives and avoid racism. My mother was very fair skinned as were some of her siblings. I am proud to say my mother never denied being a black woman despite the racism she endured during that time. She was always true to herself!!

[NOTIMETHIS]

This is why my mom used to tell white people you are not as white as you think you are, I always thought that was a strange saying but now I truly understand. Because of racism has caused Black people so much in terms of the loss of family connections and generational hurt that when they find out the truth it is devastating sometimes so much so that white people do not want to be black they deny that part is who they are and it’s sad because do not live in their authentic life.

[katrinaf.]

I had distant relatives during slavery who were freed, pass for white and bought their still enslaved darker skinned relatives. It was a very interesting story my aunt told us about. People did what they had to do, to survive. I also have relatives that could pass for white, but never did. They would tell me things that white people would say about black people, thinking they were white too. And when they would tell them that they were black, they wouldn't believe them.

[korrinarobinson]

This happened in our family, my great grandmother was born on a reservation in grande ronde Oregon, left at an early age, didn’t tell anyone about her Native American heritage and because of how light her skin was( even though she was 100% blood quantum), she could pass as Caucasian. My grandmother’s sisters and brothers did a genealogy and we found out we were Native American and belonged to the confederated tribes of grande ronde, and were kalapuyan, this was in 1998, after her passing. Our family wrote a book to chronicle our ancestors all the way back to the the 1600’s, so that we will always have our history and we continue to add to it.

[anitachin]

It wasn’t about being ashamed, more about survival. It’s difficult to judge the past.

[toyasmith]

This is the story of a lot of Creole people, including mine. You have to imagine how hard it had to have been to survive Jim Crow.

[peaceminded]

Every black family has a story about a family member who tried to pass whether it was successful or unsuccessful. This is interesting. Sad that she felt she didn’t have a choice, but joyful because you are finding your roots in a safe space.

[heathermorrison]

I am a white woman and my brother and I got dna tests and uncovered a small amount of African descent. The test gave us a timeline for the ancestor that meant someone way back when must have passed as white at least publicly. Our family also had an old tale of having Native American blood way back and I have seen others with that tale who had the same hidden African ancestor. I suppose that was a safer claim that could give reason for certain physical traits and I suspect many people who have that Native American ancestor claim might find an African ancestor if they do a DNA test. I don't at all claim to be black--I am a very pale redhead--but I think it points to an American history tale that hasn't been taught to us correctly.

[teddydavis]

Who blames her? This world operates on a caste system. Even people of color partake, even if they don't realize it. The Europeans have done a lot of harm to the entire world. I personally love melanated skin.

[randallland]

So many families did this. There are so many white black people/ creoles that stayed in Louisiana. They passed for better jobs to live better. It was hard in those days being black and a person of color. She is not the only one that did this. I understand why they all did it.

[mjjeely]

My paternal grandmother is very fair skinned with a sandy blonde hair color. I remember her telling me that when she was a kid people told her should could pass for white if her hair wasn’t so nappy. I’ve seen pictures of her as a toddler with a press and curl and she said she had been getting her hair straightened since she was 2. I guess we got lucky that she never had a desire to pass and that negative comments about skin color was never a thing in my family. I think she mainly didn’t want to pass out of fear of getting caught. I know that I’ve heard a story about her aunt being murdered and I think they played a part in her decision too. I recently found out that my grand father was actually Native American. My grandmother will be 91 in January and I hate that my generation just doesn’t know enough about her or her deceased husband. For her birthday my aunts and uncles talked a lot about their upbringing traveling down south to Mobile, things that they didn’t keep tradition when my generation came around. I would like to get those stories from her before it’s too late. It’s a very strange world we live in and no one is 100% of anything.

[LCCreole]

These stories are so common in the creole community, even so in my own family

[msneke]

A lot of biracial and fair skinned Black folk “passed” as white because passing made their lives easier; especially during a time when being Black in America and anywhere else in the world was extremely difficult due to racism, classism, discrimination, and prejudices. As far as Ms. Lola not telling the truth about her age, it must be a Southern thing because my grandma made herself younger to; and she went by another name…lol. Thanks for sharing!❤

[Del-]

8th-Generation New Orleanian here and yes this has happened in many families in Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast (Many people don’t know that Mobile was actually the first major French settlement on the coast but they had a conflict local Native America tribes and a lot of people moved to New Orleans after that). Creole culture has always been very hush hush. Names stick out and people want to make sure you are not putting family through the mud. Speaking on passing is apart of this. Passing allowed people to move freely outside of the rigid three-tier hierarchy we had here. They could move to other states and go to any college, be businessman/ seek career advancement and create families in ways not even imaginable in Louisiana. As a proud Black man it created some internal tension at first but at this point I don’t blame them. I will say it does create a very fractured family tree though. I hope everyone can reconnect the dots like I was able to in college. The love I have for all of my family is immense and one day I will meet some of them to chronicle these stories for future generations. So if you know any Delpit’s, Baham’s or Heisser’s holla at me. Thank you for sharing this!

[scottie]

My husband’s great grandmother also denied her Native American background as it was frowned upon to be Indian back in the day. It shows through in all her kids, grandkids and great grandkids! We are so proud of that bloodline!!

[allicmw]

I encourage everyone to look at those old family records. It's definitely an interesting topic and interesting to find your roots. I found out that my step-grandfather, who was basically my main grandfather, lived as a white man for 30 years in New York then returned to being Black again. He married, had kids, and lived as a white doctor. He was able to do this as he completed medical school in Europe then returned "a new man". Eventually, his wife died, and he married a black woman and moved to California. He was just doing his thing. He did have a French mother from France, which I did not know at all. He never said! Also, he was not from Louisiana but Washington State. I did find many relatives moving on from Louisiana on my dad's side to pass, but this one floored me because I knew him, and he lived with my even more white-presenting grandmother my whole childhood. She would never fully pass, but she did do it a bit to go to whites-only clubs or shops or sit in front on public transport if she wanted. She never lied on the census or left her family. But I do understand why they did this sometimes. The world was very harsh then.

[lf]

I'm Afro Cuban Afro Puerto Rican. This idea of passing, being ASHAMED of African heritage is strange to me. It's interesting that all the family keeps leaning on her being "Indian" when really the issue is her African heritage. From what you showed her census records listed her as "mulatto." That is a term I'm very familiar with because in Latin America that is what I'm called mulata, which mean African and European mixture not Indian. I'm really glad I am Latin America because with all of our problems, we embrace our African roots. We literally venerate our African ancestors in our religion, no matter how whyt our skin is, Brazilians, Cubans Puerto Ricans etc. lift up our African ancestors. Africa is the source of our music, foods, language, religions and beautiful sensual looks in every shade. America is an odd place, encouraging its people to deny the blood of the very people who gave all humans their humanity. I was raised in the Bronx but live in Rome now. I'm lucky to travel to Africa often, seeing the beautiful place that my ancestors came from. Watching your family members skirt around the word AFRICAN was odd from my perspective. I feel sorry for them it's like a self imposed prison, not accepting the richness of who you are because their country is built off of an illusion of whyt supremacy. Watching this as someone who comes from a culture blessed by an African identity, I am struck by the power of cultural hegemony. You can tell people a lie and after a while they will accept it as truth. Your people really believe Blackness is a source of shame wow 😳

[belindabrooks]

Beautiful work! The story that you tell is exactly right. My mother who is 93 and still alive tells the same story. The bloodlines were strong. I see people all the time that I am related and do not know them. If I strike up a conversation, it never fails. They were beautiful people and they looked alike. Mother says that they were not allowed to ask questions regarding their ancestors. When their parents spoke of the past, the reverted to speaking French Creole which they would not allow there children to learn or speak.