Category: Passing

  • The White Girl Grosset & Dunlap 1929 305 pages Vera Caspary An African-American woman who moves north to Chicago where she passes as white. Read the entire book here.

  • “These narratives of racial passing have risen from the dead” Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey May 2015 275 pages DOI: 10.7282/T38G8NJG Donavan L. Ramon Ph.D. Dissertation Instead of concurring with most critics that racial passing literature reached its apex during the Harlem Renaissance, this project highlights its persistence, as evidenced in the texts…

  • Why Right-Wing Bloggers Are Desperate To Prove Biracial People Aren’t Black Think Progress 2015-08-21 Aviva Shen, Senior Editor Shaun King, right, addresses the controversy over his racial identity. Right-wing media has been abuzz over the past few weeks with rumors that Black Lives Matter activist and writer Shaun King is not actually black. Breitbart and…

  • In Questions Over Shaun King’s Race, Activists See Challenge to Black Lives Matter Movement The New York Times 2015-08-21 Katie Rogers, Senior Staff Editor A prominent Black Lives Matter activist who has been accused of lying about his race was forced to discuss deeply personal issues after reporters pointed out that the father named on…

  • Race, love, hate, and me: A distinctly American story Daily Kos 2015-08-20 Shaun King [Shaun King] 14 years old. Sophomore in high school Over the past 72 hours I have been attacked with lies by the conservative media, lies that have been picked up by the traditional media and spread further. I have kept silent…

  • Lacey Schwartz didn’t know she was black, but her black friends did Fusion 2015-08-19 Collier Meyerson With two white parents and no black family members (save for a dark Sicilian uncle a couple generations removed), Lacey Schwartz was raised thinking she was white. Growing up, Schwartz’s community was predominantly white: her friends, her classes, her…

  • The Shaun King controversy, explained Vox 2015-08-20 German Lopez, Staff writer Shaun King (Source: Twitter) Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King is currently at the center of a controversy that has nothing to do with a police shooting or brutality — it’s, instead, about his personal life and racial identity. Over the past several weeks,…

  • Showtime Adapting Mat Johnson’s Novel ‘Loving Day’ As Comedy About Racial Identity Deadline Hollywood 2015-08-17 Nellie Andreeva, TV Editor In a competitive situation, Showtime has acquired the rights to Mat Johnson’s recently published semi-autobiographical novel Loving Day as a potential comedy series. Talks are underway with high-end writers to collaborate with the author on penning…

  • From Jenner to Dolezal: One Trans Good, the Other Not So Much Common Dreams 2015-06-15 Adolph Reed Jr., Professor of Political Science University of Pennsylvania By far the most intellectually and politically interesting thing about the recent “exposé” of Spokane, WA, NAACP activist Rachel Dolezal’s racial status is the conundrum it has posed for racial…

  • Book Review: CAUCASIA MixedRaceBooks 2016-07-26 Bethany Lam Senna, Danzy, Caucasia: A Novel (New York: Riverhead, 1999) Two biracial sisters—one light-skinned, one dark—are separated as children. The younger, lighter girl grows into a troubled teenager, but she never forgets her beloved older sister. Can she find her sister again … and with her sister, her self?…