Author: Steven

  • The Johnstons’ friends seemed to realize that the family had not been passing as white, but as Americans. Robert McG. Thomas, Jr., “Thyra Johnston, 91, Symbol Of Racial Distinctions, Dies,” The New York Times, November 29, 1995. http://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/29/us/thyra-johnston-91-symbol-of-racial-distinctions-dies.html.

  • From hair care to racism, Afro-Germans share experiences online DW: Deutsche Welle Berlin/Bonn, Germany 2013-12-18 Lori Herber, Cologne Two 20-somethings in Germany have launched krauselocke.de, the country’s first online portal with an Afro-German perspective. For many in the community, it’s more than hair advice – it’s a roadmap to identity After growing up with few…

  • Roots Entwined by Audrey Dewjee Tangled Roots: Literature and events to celebrate mixed-race people in Yorkshire 2013 Audrey Dewjee Yorkshire-born Audrey Dewjee has been married for over 40 years to a Zanzibari of Indian ancestry. She has been researching British Black and Asian History since the mid-1970s, and is currently a member of Leeds Diasporian…

  • Scotching Three Myths About Mary Seacole British Journal of Healthcare Assistants Volume 7, Issue 10, (October 2013) pages 508-511 Elizabeth Anionwu, Emeritus Professor of Nursing University of West London Mary Seacole has received unprecedented media coverage due to the phenomenal success of the Operation Black Vote petition to keep her included in the national curriculum.…

  • In its multifaceted view of blackness, “(1)ne Drop” implies that no racial category is inviolable. To identify as white, for example, is no less complicated. Although whiteness typically serves as a racial default that is rarely publicly examined or named, even today it is no more absolute than blackness. The privileges it bestows can be…

  • Landmark ’49 Film About Family Passing for White Recalled The Los Angeles Times 1989-07-25 Margaret Lillard The Associated Press KEENE, N.H. — For 12 years, Dr. Albert Johnston and his wife had a secret–a secret they kept from friends, neighbors, even their children. But in 1941, their secret came out–each was part black. The fair-skinned…

  • “I want to show that passing is a deeply individualistic practice, but it is also a fundamentally social act with enormous social consequences. I want to show what was lost by walking away from a black racial identity.” —Allyson Hobbs Nate Sloan, “Stanford historian re-examines practice of racial ‘passing’,” Stanford News, (December 18, 2013). http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/december/passing-as-white-121713.html

  • Thyra Johnston, 91, Symbol Of Racial Distinctions, Dies The New York Times 1995-11-29 Robert McG. Thomas, Jr. (1939-2000) Thyra Johnston, a blue-eyed fair-skinned New Hampshire homemaker who became a symbol of the silliness of racial distinctions when she and her husband announced that they were black, died on Nov. 22 at her home in Honolulu.…

  • Stanford historian re-examines practice of racial ‘passing’ Stanford News The Humanities at Stanford 2013-12-18 Nate Sloan, Doctoral Candidate in Musicology Stanford University In the margins of historical accounts and the dusty corners of family archives, Stanford history Professor Allyson Hobbs uncovers stories long kept hidden: those of African Americans who passed as white, from the…

  • Assimilation in Charles W. Chesnutt’s Works University of New Orleans 2013-05-17 41 pages Mary C. Harris A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Arts In English Charles W. Chesnutt captures the essence of the Post Civil War…