Passing for white is where you get people to assume you are white even though you are not pure white. Millions of blacks in America have done it down through time so that now a tenth of all white Americans are at least one-tenth black.
Passing is a direct consequence of how race works in America. Because of the One Drop Rule if you look at all part black African you are seen as “black” by “whites” and suffer all the racism that goes with that.
The government does not keep records about your race – it is not on your passport or even birth certificates any more – so it comes down to how you look - and, to a degree, how you talk and dress and act.
In the old days to pass you had to move away to some town where no one knew your family. Many were not willing to do that. These days, though, in big cities few people are ever going to meet your family, so it is much easier to pass, at least part of the time.
It was more important in the past when racism was worse, but it is still going on, some say at a rate of about 35,000 a year. Men seem to do it far more than women.
According to one study about one person in 500 who is born to black parents looks white. If you are less than one-eighth black by blood you have a good chance of passing, but you can be as much as a fourth black and still pass. It all depends on how you look – and what likely story you can tell people who get curious about your background. Some say they are Sicilian, Arab or American Indian.
Some people are part black and do not even know it because they have been lied to or kept in the dark about their family history.
From looking at the DNA of white Americans we can tell that the mixing and passing has been going on all along for 400 years and not just in the 1600s or the late 1900s when mixed-race marriages were allowed by law throughout the country.
The census also tells us that passing is going on: Every ten years the government counts everyone in the country and, among other things, asks what their race is. From that and immigration records you can tell that there are fewer blacks and more whites than there should be: blacks are disappearing without dying or leaving the country and whites are appearing without ever being born or entering the country. A study done along these lines in 1958 showed that 21% of whites must be part black.
In American fiction those who pass often come to a bad end – the idea of the tragic mulatto. The most famous example is “The Imitation of Life”, a book twice made into a film by Hollywood. A true-life example of someone who passed is Anatole Broyard, pictured above.
See also:
Abagond,
In your life experiences, have you encountered a black person who was passing for white?
Also, realistically, if someone is 1/4 black or less, they are not seen as being black in particular in the U.S. unless they have some Negroid-influenced features or have known black family members.
well I have really light skin,and long brown hair and when I was little my classmates would always ask me if I’m white or if I was half white)…which got annoying after awhile! I just think its weird because I think I look more like a lot of other races around the world.white people are not the only people with long hair…
(and most of them wear weave that comes from India! ;] )
also,at school people(i live in Detroit) always accuse me of looking and acting white since I’m light skinned
which is weird also because their are puerto rican people in my school that look almost like me! so why do I have to be white?
I did know one person once, people assumed she was white. She looked Italian pretty much but the cast of her skin was not quite right if you sat and thought about it. I later found out her grandmother was black.
Hmm…interesting.
There were actually two girls who I went to high school with who were both 1/4 black. Intrestingly enough, one identified as black. I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that her white mother remarried another black man and she had a black stepbrother. She also lived in a predominately black neighborhood.
She looked like a white girl, with only her West African-influenced nose and super-curly hair suggesting her black heritage.
I don’t know if I ever known of a black person who actively passed for white. I’ve came across several black folks who could but that seemed to be the last thing on their mind.
I have, however, came across some Eurasians who “passed for white”. They would even go as far to deny their East Asian heritage. Even when it showed up on their face.
Wow.
http://www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/latest/black-white-skin
That article in marieclaire is interesting. I’ve seen many Black people with albinism, and still never saw anything other than a Black person with albinism. Although she doesn’t have melanin, her features still look very Afrocentric. I don’t see how anybody could mistake her for a White person.
I remember reading that article a year or so ago. Like Lynette, it also perplexed me that anyone could see that girl for anything other black. She’s albino but everything else about her is distinctively West African-influenced. Stereotypically so, I must add.
If you read the article, that young lady’s story is not so much about passing for white (which I’m certain she never could pull off even if she tried) but more about the akward position that many white-skinned and/or racially ambigious black Americans find themselves in when living in such a color-conscious, racialized world.
All of the mixed-race people I’ve ever encountered IRL identified as black. In fact, I’ve never even heard of them saying that they are “mixed-race” (or blended, like a smoothie?), they just say they are black. Even if they look white. Same with me. If people ask what my white-looking kids are, I just say “black”. But I do choose “other” on forms.
I don’t think passing is going on much anymore. In fact, it seems to be the other way: more and more white-looking people are announcing publicly that they’re black, Native American, etc. I guess to make themselves sound more interesting?
If anything, I think the topic has turned around: black people are complaining about white-looking people claiming to be black or otherwise “exotic” and receiving scholarships, affirmative action preferences, etc.
B&G,
Interesting perspective. It’s always been a source of pride in Black America for white-appearing/racially ambigious blacks to proudly proclaim their blackness rather than “pass” or downplaying their heritage. Hence why Anatole Broyard, the man pictured above, wasn’t seen in a favorable light within black intellectual circles.
Do your children identify with black culture? Do they see themselves as mixed? Will they be similar to the girl I knew who saw herself as black despite being 3/4 white (probably more, considering that most black Americans have non-African blood)?
My children are also more than 3/4 white. My children are unaware of race; they are simply too young to notice it. They spend more time with their black relatives than with their white ones but we live in a predominately white area. So, I guess they’ll be truly interracial in that they feel equally comfortable with both groups.
However, being an international family, it’s more of a personal issue with us that they feel equally comfortable in Germany and America and are bilingual.
Truly, race doesn’t actually play that big of a part in our lives other than resulting in some awkward moments. I just find the topic interesting (as it does effect my relatives) and like to read about and discuss it. I guess you could say that I take an academic interest in it, since I’m a big history, economics, and sociology buff.
Have I just outed myself? LOL!
I also have to note that even our black family has more and more white, other, and mixed-race people in it. So even when we’re with our black relatives there are still a bunch of white people there. So I think our children will probably feel more comfortable there than in our hometown because of it’s diversity. I think that they would feel equally uncomfortable in a majority-white or a majority-black neighborhood. It’s the diverse environments that would feel the most “natural” to them.
I grew up a military brat and am also very used to diversity. It’s been very strange for me to move to such a mono-cultural place (nearly everyone has German ancestry here). It’s really sparked my interest in race-relations because for the first time in my life I feel truly different to the people around me and am adjusting to being stared at wherever I go. I’m not treated badly but I do feel “exotic”. Strangely, the areas I lived and worked in in Germany were MORE diverse than here.
my best friend mum is black her dad is black but a quater cast light skinned as his nan is full white spanish. therefore I class my frient as mixed. she has brown skin like her mum,straight nose beautiful features. i dont think she ls full black i say she is mixed, but she says she is simply black? what do you think?
That depends on what country you are in. In America there is the One Drop Rule: looking part black makes you all black. So from the sounds of it, she would be black in America. But maybe not in other places. In South Africa she might seen as coloured (mixed race) instead of black. It all depends on how you look and where the colour lines are drawn in your country.
A good example of this is Zoe Saldana: in America she is black but in the Dominican Republic, where she spent part of her girlhood, she is not. More about that here:
http://abagond.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/zoe-saldana/
Sorry, but no. The census indicates that the population of people considering themselves to be white is getting smaller. This is a link to the Census Bureau:
http://www.census.gov/population/www/pop-profile/natproj.html
I;m half white half black, but noone has ever assumed I was anything but white. Ive told them I’m mixed. Im not ashamed of my black heritage but I’m also not ashamed of my white heritage.I don’t identify as black because I;m equally black and white, why should the black heritage over-rule. I;m so sick of this “one drop” stuff. I am HALF black and HALF white!