Indirectly from Salon: "Passing" and the American dream (not quoted because of that whole ad thing, but the article mentioned): Brooke Kroeger's Passing:
Despite the many social changes of the last half-century, many Americans still "pass": black for white, gay for straight, and now in many new ways as well. We tend to think of passing in negative terms--as deceitful, cowardly, a betrayal of one's self. But this compassionate book reveals that many passers today are people of good heart and purpose whose decision to pass is an attempt to bypass injustice, and to be more truly themselves.
Excerpts are available, if you wanted to know more.
The Salon piece also name-checks Colson Whitehead's "The Intuitionist" by way of example (and I have no idea where my copy of that is. . .).
Sure I've mentioned before that one of my paternal grandmother's sisters passed, married a white guy, and was never heard from by the family again.
And that some Cherokee and other folks passed for Black (and how fucked is your existence when you're passing for Black?) to avoid that whole Indian Removal Act thing.
I'd look, but I should be working.
nevermind passing for black on the ass end of the 19th century.
I'm still passing for black. But I think people are getting suspicious.
Me? Black? No, I got this tan at band camp. See, there was this one time....
Strangely enough, in Indiana it's the other way around. I know several families in my home territory that were very proud of their "Cherokee" heritage. Then someone did research, and realized that wasn't the case after all...
Me, I'm STILL trying to pass for normal. Giving up though....
Yah, but Liz, there's a Big difference between mistaken genealogy & passing...
[Although maybe I'm misconstruing what you're saying].
Well, it's generally assumed (although perhaps incorrectly) that these "mistaken genealogies" got started when someone decided to pass. The case I know best dates back to the 1920's when someone decided to pass as Cherokee in Southern Indiana rather than be known as 1/4 black. And once it became known within the family that that particular ancestor was NOT Native American, all the pictures of him were destroyed and no one is allowed to talk about him any more.
And they still claim to be part Cherokee.
So mixed-blood Indian beats mixed-blood Negro?
What's up with that?
And, not that this is any of my business, but did he claim this was a female Cherokee ancestor? For some reason, having non-white women in the family tree seems more acceptable.
Too tired to think about gender/racial politics this morning. Plus, not posting.