The unwritten rule in the black community appeared to be that it was acceptable to “pass” but unacceptable to be caught at it. |
Regardless of the criticism directed toward fair-complexioned Negroes who allegedly withdrew into color conscious “blue vein societies,” most black Americans fully understood why some chose to “pass,” namely to reap the benefit of first-class citizenship. Although blacks were careful to guard the secret of those who did “pass”and tended to treat such people as dead, there was always the possibility of exposure and with it humiliation. The unwritten rule in the black community appeared to be that it was acceptable to “pass” but unacceptable to be caught at it. To be exposed was to risk condemnation not only from whites but from blacks as well. Such were the ironies, incongruities, and tragedies of racial, or more specifically color, prejudices.
Willard B. Gatewood, Jr., “The Perils of Passing: The McCarys of Omaha,” Nebraska History, Volume 71, Number 2 (Summer 1990): 67.
Tags: Nebraska History, Willard B. Gatewood, Willard B. Gatewood Jr.