This week the BBC Radio 4 Classic Serial  will be "Passing" by Nella Larsen, an African American writer from the Harlem Renaissance period in the 1920,1930s.   I had read the novel years ago and remember being fasinated by the story.   Passing address the issue of racism,  racial identity and sexuality  in America during the period.  It is about  two very light skinned black women friends,  Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield.  Clair chooses to pass as white and crosses over into the white world.  She marries a rich white man who is a racist and who does not realise she is black.   Irene on the other hand remains in Harlem and marries a Black doctor.  They meet up later in life and each becomes fasinated by the other’s life.  Clair especially is taken with Irene’s Black husband with whom she has an affair.  The story ends with the affair and her true racial identity being exposed.

Light skinned Black people dominated the Black establishment during the
The Harlem Renaissance period - the brown bag period when status was
measured by the lightness of your skin.   Many Black social clubs and organisations required members to take the test of comparing the skin tone to a brown bag in order to gain entry to the club.

The issue of skin tone and hair as a measure of status amongst Black people goes back to the period of slavery and operated within the racist ideology.  Both were used as  "divide and rule" tools by assigning a higher status the  lighter skinned you were.  The material benefits of being lighter skinned were improved working conditions such as in the domestic space rather than picking cotton in the fields.  Education was another and wealth often acquired as the result of being the mistress of a plantation owner or rich business man. 

Crossing races or passing is still very much part of American life.  According to the Wiki entry on the passing

from age 16, millions of African-American men disappear from the census but women do not. In 2000, this came to 2.77 million individuals. Where did they go? The assumption of this method is that they redefined themselves as White. This approach yields 0.1019 percent per year or about 37,000 individuals per year as of census 2000

Nella Larsen was not the only female writer of the period to address address racial identity, racism and passing which required the person to completely disconnect from the family and background and construct a new life story.   Jessie Redmond wrote "There is Confusion" in 1924,  5 years before Larsen’s Passing.  

The BBC reading will be narrated by Bonnie Greer. 

Links: African American Review - Passing and the faded subject.

Nella Larsen

Tags:   African American + Literature