NYTN reacts to Passing for White Documentary
#nytn #ancestry #findingyourroots #dnatest #familyhistory #genealogy
I react to episode 1 of the documentary "Passing," directed by Robin Cloud, where she uncovers hidden family connections through the stories of those who passed for white.
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Come join me on a new docu-series that explores identity, racial tensions in the South during the 20th century, and the unique experiences of those who historically called Louisiana home.
My name is Danielle Romero, and all my life, I have romanticized Louisiana.
Growing up in New York, it represented a place where I could step back the sepia-toned life of my great grandmother, Lola Perot, who died before I was born.
Now, it was time to go back to Louisiana--although I had no idea what the truth would be or what questions to ask---who was Lola really? Who were we?
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✅SUPPORT NYTN ☕Send me a coffee!: ko-fi.com/nytn13#linkModal www.patreon.com/NYTN FOLLOW ME 📸 ► KZread: / @NYTN ► Facebook: / facebook.com/findinglolafilm/ ► Website: www.nytonashville.com/ ► X: / twitter.com/ImFindingLola/
@starchildthesupertrucker3.242
3 ай бұрын
That's your Grandma welcome to the club now you have start learning to Jason Black and Tariq Nashid lol 😆 😀
@starchildthesupertrucker3.242
3 ай бұрын
And its funny because a lot of White people may have black ansisters yep and another thing You had Black women who owned Slaves in the South they married White Slave masters yes so this is Why we have a Gender War in the black community it's another Reason why they wouldn't pass any kind of Bills to give FBA Are Foundational black americans reparations.
@bluetinsel7099
3 ай бұрын
There are so many films and books on passing, but this is definitely an interesting topic.
@marie3919
2 ай бұрын
So are you going to embrace and accept your African identity
@nytn
2 ай бұрын
@@marie3919 id love for you to see my series tracking my enslaved ancestors in louisiana kzread.info/head/PLvzaW1c7S5hQxDnyRTah5wYRX9b4FSrqR
My family is Black. My paternal great grandmother *could have* passed for white, but did not and chose to stay with her family. With light skin and blue eyes she embraced her blackness and graduated from Grambling State University (HBCU) in the 1920’s! I’m very proud of her.
@sandramccollum284
Ай бұрын
@marathongirl27 that is also a description of my grandmother. She graduated from Leland College in Louisiana in 1903
@marathongirl27
9 күн бұрын
@@sandramccollum284 that’s awesome!! 😊
FYI my sister-in-law passes till this day in 2024… , people assumed she was white and she goes with it. Her mother who is black passed away. Have you ever seen the movie, imitation of life? It’s a classic in the black community.
@dorothytemple4195
2 ай бұрын
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO SLAVES WHO WERE RAPPED BY THE SLAVES OWNERS.
@marathongirl27
2 ай бұрын
I LOVE the movie “Imitation of Life”, I have it on DVD. FYI, there are 2 versions of the move: 1934, and 1959 with Lana Turner. I had only seen the 1959 version before discovering the 1934 film a few years ago.
I am of Puerto Rican descent and have 9 brothers and Sisters and I am the darkest NO Passing for me as for my brothers and Sisters they had no problem. I never faulted them , We grew up in the South but everyone knew our family, but my Sister cut ties with our family for her own reasons and attached herself to her Italian husbands family . We were not even invited to her daughters weddings . but Yet her Daughters All reach out to me all the time. And they apologize for their Mother all the time. . I tell them to STOP its not their job . I love them and if they ever need to talk phone call away
@nytn
3 ай бұрын
They are so lucky to have an aunt like you.
@user-tf6hg4xp1p
Ай бұрын
Don’t push them away. If they want to visit you. Do it. Time passes. Ignore your sister.
@lunalea1250
Ай бұрын
I had a customer from PR, I am from another 🏖 who was becoming a friend, we went out to eat, she invited me to her 🏠, then we started talking about race, she was shocked/ affronted that I was fine with being black, she was fair with straight hair, she claimed Spain, but stated her Grandmother was a dark, dark black woman, after that, we were finished, people are still lying to themselves ...😔
Nothing about this is new. I am dark-skinned. My grandmother and her siblings were mixed race. More than a few of my father's first cousins passed. Because they passed they could access resources unavailable to them as persons of African descent. It is a fact of life. I'm surprised to learn that others didn't know about this. Some people continue to pass today.
Danielle, you must read The Sweeter the Juice: A Memoir in Black and White by Shirlee Taylor Haizlip. It is about a family that passes for white, and they abandoned the author's mother and uncle as children because they were a shade or two darker. I've read that book 3 times, it was so good. Shirlee and her mother were on The Oprah Winfrey show years ago promoting the book and talking about passing. On the show, Shirlee and her mother met their white relatives ( Shirlee's Aunt, her mother's sister's children)who had no idea that their mother was black.
@ryanlewandowsky2077
3 ай бұрын
That is interesting I’m going to try it. I first learned about passing in college when I read a fictional novel but it did have parts where it was sad not as dramatic but she couldn’t have any of her black friends.
@nytn
3 ай бұрын
oh my gosh, i'll get it for my kindle!
@ChristineC.-bd2qr
3 ай бұрын
@@ryanlewandowsky2077 I think I went through every emotion reading that book. Enjoy, it is a great read.
@Myopinionmattersthemost
3 ай бұрын
I enjoyed the story. The story explains colorism well, IMO even the author had color biases when describing folks and what she determined was attractive.
@carolinegooder7091
3 ай бұрын
A radio interviewer was speaking with the author about revealing family that was black but thought they were white, and didn't that hurt them. Then after a break the interviewer had changed her mind. Haizlip asked why and was told the interviewer had just realized they were related and she didn't care that she was now part black. ❤
What disturbed me most about my now White family is they also took on American racist attitudes. One of my our first fall outs. I get passing but to become racist. To me a sign of self hate of being Blk. Another reason they “washed” it away.
@XHobbiesPrime
Ай бұрын
I have a friend who looks white her mom was mixed and she is quite racist, even knowing she is part black. It is almost comical.
@piedradesechada
27 күн бұрын
They think by being racist they will pass even better - how would anyone suspect them? And then they start to believe their act.
I live in Europe where these issues exist in different ways but still exist. My mom was a white Italian woman and my biological father was a Brazilian immigrant who was mixed of Gypsi, black and white. She got pregnant with me but her family didn't accept him so she married an Italian man who adopted and raised me as a true daughter but only because I came out white (passing). If I were born dark skinned they would have gave me to adoption, they told me that in my face. I also kept in touch with my biological father and we travelled to Brazil to meet my biological super-over-mixed family (composed by ppl of all shades, from the most pale white to the darkest shade). He taught me to love and embrace all colors, ethnicities, cultures and nationalities. He didn't want me to treat nobody the way he was treated. But being born and raised in Italy, I can't tell everybody about it. Although Italy is itself a very mixed heritage country due to the several dominations, they still can't accept people with such a big admixture like me. That doesn't mean that I let them tell me whom I can befriend, date or even love. But it's hard and painful sometimes. It's like I am more ready to accept who I am but still "not ready enough"
@lungamadoda6992
2 ай бұрын
😮😢
@deborahchasteen3206
4 күн бұрын
😢
My family also did this here in Louisiana. My dad brother refused to accept being African American and had all 5 of his children pass and marry white. They stayed away but only came for funerals; but didn’t bring their spouses or children
@SDBOGLE
2 ай бұрын
You Dad wasn’t African American, his ancestors were very likely Black French Ancestry, and Native Ancestors As most families in Louisiana came from Nova Scotia Canada, Haiti Or directly from France, not Africa .. no Africans were ever taken to America
@marie3919
2 ай бұрын
In Louisiana there was the one stop rule and his great great grandfather married free woman of color from New Orleans Louisiana, I know our history thank you
@veraaddoyobo8482
2 ай бұрын
@@SDBOGLENo African was ever taken to America? Please enlighten us and explain about the slave ships
@SDBOGLE
2 ай бұрын
@@veraaddoyobo8482 Whenever you see in history books about ships going to the western coast of Africa, they actually went to the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, Madeira Azores and Canaries. For 150 years before the English arrived in America, the Spanish conquistadors took over 500,000 Native Americans, told the survivors to these islands, Seville England and west Africa. These were predominantly the enslaved people on all colonies in the New World along with the people expelled from Iberia. Read the book Jews and Muslim in British Colonial America by Elizabeth Caldwell and Donald M Yates.
@piedradesechada
27 күн бұрын
@@SDBOGLEthank you
I love this channel, my great grandfather just passed at 101 years old, he was a black man but very fair skinned and so is his brother. They had two sisters one passed for white and moved away from the family, and never spoke with them again. The interesting thing is coming from the NC piedmont region specifically Alamance, Rockingham and Caswell counties a lot of Black Americans are fair to light and have had family members that passed for white.
@krazyjnva2up2down55
3 ай бұрын
Your great grand father isn't black he is MULATTO. The census should clearly state this. If you think pale Africans came off slave boats from Africa you greatly mistaken. Mulattos have been on documents since the 1600s. Only recently on the 1930 census was the term removed due to the racist 1924 racial integrity act
@deborahchasteen3206
4 күн бұрын
Hi, Did you see the video Danielle made about the Melungeon people? It seems like this could be your family’s story, especially since they’re from North Carolina.
I am Italian, english, Irish and melungeon. Your channel has inspired me along my path of research, taught me so much on how to find my families story. White enough to pass, the phrase hits me different now. I found census that had my family as free people of color, in the ten years between census, they claim they found a Cherokee child and adopted her. She was raised with our family name, I looked a head and found her children were registered as white 20 years later. My great grandmother used to call us black dutch. She would say, we ain't American, we black dutch but don't tell nobody, it ain t safe. I so wish I could hug her and say , no grandma, we are Americans, and it's safe now.. I believe your channel should be a mandatory exploration in high school history class! Thank you to you and your family for sharing your story.
@user-pt3gi5ul2e
3 ай бұрын
Take that, Florida! I wish all future voters would study HS Biology, Macroeconomics, and US Government. Throw your genealogy studies on my wish pile! Won't happen unless K - 12 gets standardized federally. Education is a "responsibility" of states unless Congress does something organized about it. Not just a law but an Amendment. Sigh.
@nytn
3 ай бұрын
This made me so happy, please keep me posted on what you find out!
@timeforchange3786
2 ай бұрын
@@user-pt3gi5ul2ethat won't happen until schools go back to teaching academics and stop trying to indoctrinating politics. Leave parenting to the parents and stick with what you were hired to do.
@maryesposito6521
2 ай бұрын
@@timeforchange3786I took Civics decades ago & now you want schools to remove it?!? Why?!? They ARE paid to teach all the different types of politics. They are also paid to teach about human rights; which you only believe you deserve rights; not all of us. Stop with the hate-filled propaganda. PLEASE!
Danielle please look up an old movie called Imitation of Life. My grandmother had me watch it with her when I was younger before she passed away. I didn’t know why she held that movie so close to her heart back when she was alive. Knowing she was born in Louisiana and raised there in a time where passing was a dividing factor that happened to so many families, I now understand why she cried sometimes when watching it with me. There’s more to many family stories than we’re told, especially when passing is involved.
@kaleahcollins4567
3 ай бұрын
I had my mix race mixed ancestry racially ambiguous daughters watch all the movies like Queen feast of all saints even rabbit proof fence( Australia aboriginal movie) etc and so much more I showed them the slave narratives to show that what they see in the mirror wasn't new this has always been though the times changed
Yeah, it’s definitely still happening, but as a kid you don’t always have the perspective to see how messed up your family is until later. You just take it for granted that there’s relatives you never see, but don’t realize that not every family is that way. As an adult whose mom grew up in the Jim Crow South, I know there’s no way I could understand what she and her family went through, so I try to just sit with the fact that they were people just doing the best they could with the cards they were dealt.
I can't work on my family history without getting emotional too. The amount to name changes are incredible. It really helped to take college classes about it, trainings at work that start with incorrect assumptions and get into conversations and role plays that simutate the viewpoints we may encounter in our new work. The conversations would wander out into the parking lot as we were leaving. It rearely got heated. It was handled masterfully.
THIS is what bigotry and racism in america has done to its peoples families. PEACE dear Sister and God bless.
@pinkman7317
2 ай бұрын
I wouldn't blame them for passing for white, I would pass for white if I could , all the entitlements and privileges'...its a no brainer
@cookieDaXapper
2 ай бұрын
@@pinkman7317 ....it is a GREAT sacrifice to Passe Blanc, you must forever ignore and denounce your family and friends just because of skin color. It is harder to accomplish today, everyone has a "fair-skinned" cousin to compare your appearance to.
American history is so complex. There should be a television channel that covers the entire history of the country, with debates etc. like the show Finding Your Roots. it would bring together to know the history in depth
Louisiana is my home state; however, during my travels from CA to LA. I encountered many folks passing, mostly in waffle houses across the mid-southwest areas of nation and In CA. My grandparents taught us young folks not to expose them, and once many of these folks realized we were going to kept their secret, we got special (family) treatment.
@user-cs1mc4vg7q
3 ай бұрын
I’m also from La, and as I’m sure you know, we are pretty good at spotting them, bc we see and recognize so many people like this here. One thing that bothers me is people don’t want to be honest about passing and why it was/is done. Right now we have people passing because racism and discrimination still exist in this country. And the sad fact is that it’s an easier path if you are considered YT. Not that you won’t have to work hard, but most times you won’t be excluded bc of color.
@vanessapete1091
3 ай бұрын
@@user-cs1mc4vg7qLouisiana creole lady here, and I agree 💯 ,with everything you said .
@pinkman7317
2 ай бұрын
@@user-cs1mc4vg7q I wouldn't blame them for passing for white, I would pass for white if I could , all the entitlements and privileges'...its a no brainer, i dreamed of being a commercial airline pilot, almost impossible to be a black commercial pilot unless you white, many industries this way
@piedradesechada
27 күн бұрын
@@user-cs1mc4vg7qwhat is YT? White?
This is so real. We’re Melungeon too, some of us look more black and some look more white. If you could pass, many times you just left the family, and started living as a white person far from anyone who knows you.
@kathleenking47
2 ай бұрын
Charles Stanley reminds me of that..also president Eisenhowers mom..was biracial black presenting
@Babyshoes777
2 ай бұрын
@@kathleenking47 love vs the state of Virginia. The black woman in that case is actually Melungeon, her child have the “classic” Melungeon look. All up and down Appalachia there were tiny towns of people mixing races for generations.
@pinkman7317
2 ай бұрын
I wouldn't blame them for passing for white, I would pass for white if I could , all the entitlements and privileges'...its a no brainer, i dreamed of being a commercial airline pilot, almost impossible to be a black commercial pilot unless look you white, many industries this way
Race is a fascinating topic, it's also 100% a mess.
@nytn
3 ай бұрын
Im fascinated that we cant sort it out the way we think we can. And yet so much heartbreak over pretending we can.
@hyperbolic-time-chamber-strand
3 ай бұрын
Agreed, I'm mixed(black&white) was born and raised in IA there's too much ego involved on all sides. it's an uphill battle with no end in sight. @nytn
@Mister006
3 ай бұрын
Well, it's 100% a lie, as "race" has no biological basis - yet whole communities of people insist on maintaining it as valid. That's what makes it a mess. Even communities for which "race" was created to terrorize maintain "race," and that's part of the terrorism - because unless someone rejects "race" itself, one cannot invalidate its fundamental demand for unmerited and unearned advantage for and to the Western Europeans (and Western European diaspora) that created the social construct.
@massimoraccis6896
3 ай бұрын
If I may, with all due respect. it will always be a mess if Americans continue to think that races really exist and continue to divide humans on the basis of skin pigmentation or on macro categories (Asian, Latinos, etc etc) that do not reflect the complexity and richness of ethnic groups and world cultures.
@Galidorquest
3 ай бұрын
@@massimoraccis6896 Racial classification is a part of America's history. The USA is a relatively new country with no historic culture & traditions, founded & colonized by Europeans. The Europeans imported Africans to America, took away their identity and created the race system that we use. (Black/African, White/European, Yellow/Asian, Brown/Latino, Red/Native, etc...)
You posted a picture of Ina Rae Hutton, she’s my cousin and her story is very interesting. Thank you your transparency, I can agree with many that this causes a great division and confusion in the family.
Thank you so much for this channel. My mom and father were both Italian and Greek but not fully. Only 25% of my family has my dark skin color. But growing up in north Carolina it was an issue for several people. But the fact is we are all Americans and we are connected. And not Crayola colors.
When I see families that pass I don't judge. Because they are surviving the best they can. I have a white/bright side to my family. But they did not isolate. The funny thing is that most black folks have family that did or does pass. That is why it is so easy to indenitfy white families who have African ancestry. For generations they tricked themselves into believing they are pourly white. But the beautiful African DNA always shine in them somehow.💖
@nytn
3 ай бұрын
It's amazing to be on the other side of this story
@Paula-133
2 ай бұрын
@@nytn I truly understand. That is why this channel is so deeply important. Its truly can be a place of healing.❤
@pinkman7317
2 ай бұрын
I wouldn't blame them for passing for white, I would pass for white if I could , all the entitlements and privileges'...its a no brainer, i dreamed of being a commercial airline pilot, almost impossible to be a black commercial pilot unless look you white, many industries this way
My mom was born in 1943 and her maternal grandmother is listed in the census as Mulatto in GA. Her grandmother's siblings moved to Philadelphia and began to pass. My mother has met these relatives several times, but the visits were infrequent and uncomfortable. They were cold people and judgemental.They made it clear that family was not allowed to contact them. For family who ignored these rules, they were treated coldly and refused admittance to their home during the visits. It sound sad, but my mom seem to understand their rules. It also explained her own mother's colorist ideas. Since both my grandmother and great-grandmother were dead before my birth, I have to accept my mother's depiction of their beliefs. She shared stories of her mother's cruel behavior in showing preference for lighter skin My mother's feelings were hurt manys times by her mom; and yet she swore to me that my grandmother would have loved me. I remember tellling her as a child, that I doubted this, I was darker than my mom. Maybe, my mom was trying to foster love for her mother. It just seems problematic to me. Now, my mother's paternal grandmother was half Cherokee and half Black and she had a very different in philosophy. She loved all shades of our race and she got along with White Southerners too, even while supporting the Civil Rights movement. I believe that it had to do with her step-mother, who raised her, after her mother died in childbirth with her. Her stepmother appearance was more Caucasian and her White relatives strangely enough for the times, claimed her. I still trying to dig up the reason for this strong connection. Her White siblings visited her and there were many pictures taken with her as family portraits. Seeing this interaction must have affected my great-grandmother greatly, because I constantly watched her navigate relationships with other races respectfully, once she moved to Chicago with ease. It's fascinating to me. I'm related to two groups with vastly different experiences and philosophies on my mother's side. I want to dig deeper and learn the Why's wether I agree with them or not, I feel compelled to undercover the family stories, which are threads in my. legacy quilt. As always thanks for doing sharing this story, I will have to view the program.
@KentPetersonmoney
2 ай бұрын
interesting story. Sometimes I feel the darker skin blacks in the family may have encouraged the lighter skin blacks to pass as white to have a better life.
@anitat66
2 ай бұрын
Sounds like my story but for me all of family has passed both sides gone and I want to know because my sister are having children what do I tell them? I just found out about passing so I think that's what my mother did and thought she would live forever I guess she was wrong I all alone. I afraid for my family we at the second generation now what going to happen when they meet someone to marry and find out that they are family and they don't know what happened. I know I not the only one who feels that way at some point 😢 this needs to stop. This story made me sad and afraid, angry Nebraska family that I don't know if you feel the same way we can talk no pictures just text change your address set up a new email and let talk about what you know I know very little about my family maybe we can figure out some of the missing people of people with no name it's a place to start if you are not afraid. Let do something before time run out Please 🙏
@anitat66
2 ай бұрын
My mother was born in 1943 and her mother is Cherokee and black and lived in Alabama ?
I have these same exact stories in my family and I have a similar reaction to you. It creates a deep pain that never goes away not just for me but I feel it for everyone who has and is going through this.
Danielle , I`m glad that you stated the fact that segregation was not ONLY in the South. I am 66 years old and grew-up only 60 miles west of Philadelphia . One of my Italian aunts moved to Philly when she was young , and she would talk about how before the 1970`s in Philly MANY things were for " Whites only ". You could not join any of the Clubs that make-up the Mummers Parade if you were Black , also there was a PUBLIC swimming-area that was for " Whites only " etc. etc. My aunt whole-heartedly supported the segregation !! So it was NOT only White southerners who maintained segregation. BEST WISHES Danielle !!
@timeforchange3786
2 ай бұрын
When I think of Philadelphia I think of the Quakers who fought against slavery even in the early 1700s. I guess that is because I have a line that was heavily Quakers. They came from a rich man who owned slaves and when he died his son married a Quaker and freed them all. The runaway slaves always ran to Philadelphia for freedom. Too bad it is such a mess now.
@Percept2024
2 ай бұрын
@@timeforchange3786 YES , Thatcher Longstreth who was from an olde Philadelphia Quaker family ran against Frank Rizzo for Mayor. Thatcher DID NOT like the way that Rizzo was basically anti-Black . But Rizzo easily won the election.
I’m Irish and white, I’ve listened to what we call banter over here about my colour every time the sun comes out! My dad and me get very brown when it’s sunny for 3 days per year in Ireland! When I was 13 my dad and I were talking about sport and my dad said we’re related to Malcolm Marshall, a famous West Indian cricketer, I said no way, he’s black and we’re white. He then said how do you know we’re not related,? He then educated me in racism, lessons which I’ve passed to my own children. In my 2600 regional ethnicities, about 438 of my dna regions were African American, but by far and away the most mind blowing regions in my DNA are the maritime Acaidian, Creoles of colour aaaand lots of regions from the West Indies. My Irish heat map from my my heritage account was clearly showing Irish in Ireland around the year 1600, in 1650 the heat map shows NO Irish Dna. Oliver Cromwell either slaughtered my ancestors before the Irish plantations, or had them transported to the West Indies .When I look at photos on ancestry I can clearly see that some of my ancestors were white passing, and my matches in ancestry are clearly deleting anything pertaining to French, Spanish, African or indigenous North American, based on what their sibling DNAs are reading and the fact that in some cases only 45-50 % of their ethnicities were recorded. I only got my DNA results about 3 months ago, and I’m feeling a hurt inside, similar to the pain I can see that you’re in. From my paternal grandfather, my dad and my son, I can see that each generation is slightly lighter in skin pigmentation. My son’s partner has a West Indian father and an Irish mother, his partner is black and her gorgeous son, my grandson, is the whitest little 3 year old I’ve ever seen, with a mass of white/blonde curls and the most piercing set of blue eyes that sometimes look turn light grey! From what I can see from at least my great great paternal grandfather, is how blonde their hairs were as babies, all eventually darkening to dark brown/black hair towards our mid 20s. I’m on a journey that may help me understand the shame of my ancestors around skin colour/race. You’ve helped inspire me to have a deeper connection to my ancestors, many many thanks for this ❤
@nr7920
Ай бұрын
Wonderful and enlightening! Thanks so much for sharing your story ❤
Similar to a documentary series from a few years back called Canfield Roots, about an old abandoned cemetery in Ontario Canada where refugees from US slavery had settled in the pre-Civil War era. Long/short, many married into the white community over the decades and by the early 21st C., many of their descendant are for all intents and purposes "white." The series had to do with, among other things, proving one's descent in order to have standing to try to get the site declared an historic monument.
May more families not go through this trauma
Danielle I Love you so Much for your whole series , You are Brave,a Champion,Hero for telling your story, sharing these Videos that shine a light on American history, Bridge the Great devide, that is Very different from what we are taught in society and in school. This story here is also apart of My family's story. My Grandmother and Grand Aunts could Pass when necessary to Survive in Racist South Carolina in the 1940's through the 70's . She never denied who she was ,Yet if Racist YT's did not know, It allowed her to Survive in a world that hates you for the color of your skin. This story is throughout My Family. Alot of My Ancestors are American Indians that either had to say they were Black (Because if You are a Darkskin Indian you are Automatically called African American, In Addition You could be K*lled or hung if you said you were.) My Ancestors said they were Mulatto or Colored to escape persecution. We all have a lot that Makes up us. I have White Ancestors and I have American Indian Ancestors that had to say they were Colored ,Mulatto, or white to survive. Thank you!
Hi Danielle! My maternal grand uncle (my grandmother's brother) passed for white so he could join the military during WW1. He moved to Pennsylvania (I found out through ancestry research and he was listed as white). My grandmother's father was half Irish and his wife's family was also mixed. He and my grand uncle looked Irish like my great grandfather's paternal family.
If I shared my Great-Grandmothers photo she could have passed as a white women. My Great Uncle told me he moved her from Mississippi to Califonia and he kept getting stopped by the police asking her if she was alright and she kept having to explain that she was black and with her black son. It got so bad she just moved back to Mississippi where people knew her and wouldnt have that issue. She could have passed, but it was important to her to keep her connnection to her family and African-American heritage. Her memory is very dear to our as she passed the land her and my great grandfather owned to all 11 of her children in which the land is still in our family today. Watching stuff like this really makes me so proud of my Great Gramma choosing to not pass, and passing down a since of pride in our African-American heritage that lives on today. Thanks for covering this topic.
@nytn
2 ай бұрын
This history has far reaching affects, it's still crazy to me.
@qgarland9593
2 ай бұрын
@nytn Right. It does. Don't know if you ever thought about this but it would be interesting if we knew how people categorized themselves before the "one drop" rule. Personally as an African-American I always felt like the "one percent" rule is so deep it is still used today to "try" to define our identity. I believe it's so so deeply embedded into our culture because of the past laws we had in this Country around race that could be the difference between slavery or freedom. That laid the foundation of where we are at now regarding race. Thanks for the great content!
@nytn
2 ай бұрын
That makes soo much sense
Danielle, you just keep droppin’ hits!!!
My mom my aunts and uncle are passing. My mom had grey eyes, auntie had blue eyes and my uncle also had blueish lite green eyes. They were practically white looking just like her relatives in the documentary. I was born in NYC raised in Queens.
When the movie Passing was released, I tossed myself down a KZread rabbit hole. I’d been fascinated by the subject, ever since learning about It in middle school. Both sides intrigue me, ‘How do you leave your family forever/How do them folk not know!?’ At some point, YT started showing me these Passing For White videos. I followed to the conclusion like it was my own family unfolding before my eyes. Then the algorithm started suggesting your ‘Lola’ videos. I was confused at first, thinking it was all from one creator. Finally I figured it out! I guess these were my precursor videos to yours.
Thank you for your live stream yesterday Danielle, it was so fun and it was great to finally meet your husband and put a face to the name. You guys did a good job at answering our silly questions too!
I guess because this is quite common where I’m from in Louisiana, I can just tell who is of African ancestry and passing- it is quite obvious to me. I’m glad that you all are investigating your family’s history and truth!
I love your deep dives into lineage and history, it reflects the wonderful tapestry of peoples' families!
Great episode! I liked your livestream and the chance to meet your husband! Keep up the great work! Sadly, people had to hide their roots to be accepted!
Passing destroys families😢
@AshaBlack-wy3ol
3 ай бұрын
In some cases the family members who passed kept an eye out for the ones who couldn't by keeping them safe and employed.
@CT-uv8os
2 ай бұрын
Not everyone wa s given a choice.
@pinkman7317
2 ай бұрын
I wouldn't blame them for passing for white, I would pass for white if I could , all the entitlements and privileges'...its a no brainer, i dreamed of being a commercial airline pilot, almost impossible to be a black commercial pilot unless look you white, many industries this way
Open arms and open hearts, cousin! You are doing the work now to learn, share, and respect your ancestors. It's beautiful.
I loved this documentary....most of us darker people have family who passed as white....hence the imitation of life.
@timeforchange3786
2 ай бұрын
I wish the descendants of Harriet and Beverly Hemings would come forward and write a book and a movie about their family passing. They should be able to do DNA that would have DNA matches to known Hemings descendants.
@jean-pierremuchuba6509
2 ай бұрын
Throwing your African relatives under the bus or selling them. Some people sold others! Remember !
My gmom passed for white and it's a severing and it affects me and my one child. We have no one to call family. It's just us.
@nytn
2 ай бұрын
I am so sorry. I learned recently that family is not always blood relatives,- I hope you are able to find those people, too!
@cheleftb
2 ай бұрын
@@nytn❤ gratitude this is truth
Thanks again for sharing this video because it is very common theme in the black community.
Bravo Danielle. Great work. You are leading the cutting edge on this topic. Keep it up. On to 100k subs.
@catherinesterling1685
2 ай бұрын
Doing good job Danielle I have seen this passing and the damage it has done to Black community first hand So sad thank you
I saw this series. She eventually meets up with 2 white cousins, 1 male and 1 female. The dude was cool with finding out about the ancestry but the female was NOT having it at all. BTW You and your husband handled some very disrespectful comments with so much grace and humor.
@nytn
3 ай бұрын
wooooo boy. this is going to get real. also, thank you. We laugh about the people that come out with guns blazing. I always hope those folks stick around and figure out how to learn along with us.
@ThatSuzanneSchmid
3 ай бұрын
I didn't read it that way about the younger woman. She showed up for the meeting which is more than her father did. I think she was just young and bored. When I was her age I didn't really care about meeting older relatives. She does end up getting a DNA test and showing Robin that she's 15% African or so. You have to remember too, they're living in Nebraska. Also, they're not thinking about these things like people living in more diverse areas. You should expect a very slow waking up for people who've never had to think about race. In addition, Robin is there with a camera crew, filming them. There's a whole lot going on that we may not be aware of.
@iamlordeyahyahyah
3 ай бұрын
That's funny because I didn't get that feeling from her at all when I saw it. From what I remember she had no problem acknowledging their ancestry and discussing it but the revelation didn't seem to make any impact on her either positively or negatively. Robin seemed to have been taken aback by her indifference, maybe because she herself was so interested in their shared family history and expected a more profound reaction.
@NiKiMa023
3 ай бұрын
Awww you guys SPOILERS!
@osiruskat
2 ай бұрын
Right. Don't ruin it for those who haven't watched it. I've watched the series several times and it is very well done. It does further open the door about how one identifies themselves by ethnicity and does it really matter.
I’m excited for this I remember reading a novel about passing in college. I think it was by Zora Neale Houston.
@brawndothethirstmutilator9848
3 ай бұрын
I believe you mean Zora Neale Hurston. I read her book, “Their Eyes Were Watching God” in high school.
@nytn
3 ай бұрын
Im writing that down!
@ChocoBeauty8
3 ай бұрын
It's actually Passing by Nella Larsen. They also made a movie on Netflix.
@user-cs1mc4vg7q
3 ай бұрын
@@nytn, Their eyes were watching God. The protagonist can probably pass from her physical description. At least from my memory, she has fair features.
@ryanlewandowsky2077
3 ай бұрын
@@ChocoBeauty8 thank you so much I I loved the book and was so frustrated that I could not remember the author or name!
This is so important! The issue of passing, from black family perspective that’s the way it was or “ white “ family perspectives surprised. I remember my dad saying before the Jim Crow era he freely met with white side, he still kept in touch over the years. I remember going to this older white woman’s house but he never told me who she was to us. He didn’t pass, but he could have. White people always excepted him and then was shocked when his copper brown daughter grabbed his hand and called him daddy. I remember feeling confused when I saw their expressions.
Nebraska native here!
@Shewolfgoddess44
2 ай бұрын
Born and raised in omaha, im happy this family is able to unlock the secrets of their family as I am on the same journey.
Anxiously awaiting your reactions to the other five parts!
Being from NOLA, I remember my passant blanc maternal grandmother whose family passed. She chose not to pass when she married my grandfather, a Creole but not passant blanc. My father, whose father was blond blue eyed Cajun who could not marry legally my father's dark mixed mother was estranged from legal recognition as his legitimate son. Grandfather gave my father his name, was intermittently in his life and educated him and me in 'the ways of yt people' . Grandfather took him to meet his yt side in Opelousas area and was told NEVER to return under 'pain of death' no guarantee of safety for my father by the family. Later my father, unrecognizing him as such, later met a more distant cousin (who was passing, a doctor and married white) who revealed himself as the cousin he'd grown up around and played with as a child. Ironically, my father's dark 'mixed' mother was descended from a blond blue eyed German Jewish man who 'married' a woman of color, had children with in their family picture with a subsequent picture of their light skinned son with his woman of color wife and children. Passant blanc cousins and aunts of my mother had to sneak in under cover of night to see my mother to avoid exposure as ostracism and loss of position and safety were quick to follow. Ironically, the St. Bernard parish uber racist Perez patriarch, who was excommunicated for his racism, was actually a yt passing distant cousin! We were expected to keep on moving and not acknowledge yt passing relatives we would bump into in public. We've become so disconnected from so many relatives due to the odious circumstances 'forcing' this terrible choice upon families.
@kevingillard5474
2 ай бұрын
My father's younger sister was very fair as she was the result of non prosecutable, then ,rape of my grandmother by a yt man at the hotel she was doing 'maid' service at.
Im binge watching alll your videos on this 4th of July... My daughter is going to RE start her research journey about her dads side in LA. The elders like to keep tight lipped about their history. My daughter has a bright complexion like your aunt. Thanks for explaining creole and cajun
@nytn
Ай бұрын
I’m still learning myself!☺️
Yup. Always passed as Italian. Im from SoMd. In SoMd the make up is English/Irish, Black and Native. Anybody not English/Irish white was people of color. So it was easy with olive skin to go north to pass where there were Italians. Mixed folks could blend in with Italians/Sicilians.
That Becky didnt see she was black, or at least not white, is true wishful thinking. Yet, I can understand the wish to not suffer as black Americans have...
@timothylawson3262
3 ай бұрын
I think that is probably the real reason for most passing, you have to be tuff to be black.
@ThatSuzanneSchmid
3 ай бұрын
You'll find out in later episodes that the kids get teased for looking Black in Nebraska. But since they think they are white, they get into fights with school kids over this. Obviously, they look like children of two mixed looking Black people. Despite all of that, they still say they are white.
Idk if it’s this show or a special but I watched something yrs ago, I think about some fairly famous people of the time, that passed as white but were black. I’d never heard of it before then. It is sad to think so many felt they had to do this to get by back then. Another testament to why we all need to learn this history. It is not something we want to repeat! Oddly enough I found out not long ago that much of what we’d been told all our lives about our ancestry is probably incorrect! Irish, Scottish, American Indian- nope. Probably mostly German/Prussian. 😳 migrating to these other countries Ireland/Scotland. It also makes me think there was some name changing too. Sure makes me wonder!
I watched the 6 episodes of this show. It was an interesting show. I am thankful that I saw the clips on your channel.
These stories are always interesting thank you again for this.
This was a real thing. My grandfather was a "passer," and did not like to discuss his family at all. He was always very forthcoming with anything you asked, except about his family. As I began looking into our genealogy, it began, as you said, "blowing the lid off" of secrets from the past with some startling discoveries. I agree its an odd conversation, the "One-drop" conversation. Where 1/8th or 1/16th meant you're Af.Am, but if you're 1/8th or 1/16 European, you're not "white." Which really spoke to the social nature of these descriptors. How it was a hierarchal ladder of sorts. And Af.Am blood was seen as a contaminating agent. An impurity. And sadly, by some, that's imbedded in our social lexicon without directly referencing it. So many layers to pull back!
@pinkman7317
2 ай бұрын
I wouldn't blame them for passing for white, I would pass for white if I could , all the entitlements and privileges'...its a no brainer, i dreamed of being a commercial airline pilot, almost impossible to be a black commercial pilot unless look you white, many industries this way
THANK YOU FINALLY IVE BEEN TELLING YOU ABOUT THIS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF YOUR CHANNEL. Thank you 😊 💓 ❤
@nytn
3 ай бұрын
Yes! I’m finally ready
@kaleahcollins4567
2 ай бұрын
@nytn I think it would really be awesome if you were able to get to her for an interview. I think she will be a great complement to your own story as well as mine and many like us across the spectrum. Also, are you gonna do a full-length dive into this all 7 parts because I think the part where she found and got to speak to the passing and white family members is very important. We all went through that when we met them, what they were like, and how much they actually knew most times not much but sometimes like her eldest cousin on that side he remembered living in Harlem as a child. It's truly sad, though, that many families are broken and removed because of things like this. But I'm so glad you're getting into this more. Maybe you can do a movie night live stream on Fridays where you can play and discuss movies like imitation of life ( both 1939 and 1958) the Alex Haley t.v. series Queen ( his paternal maternal line) Roots was his maternal paternal line . If you can find this movie, maybe on Amazon, it's called "The feast of all saints." This one would hit close to home a bit since it's in Louisiana. Dare to love with Vanessa William a period piece as well. Rabbit proof fence is about Australia and how they dealt with there ( black problem 🙄) similarities between the ways both the indigenous and African descended peoples are treated throughout North and South America. Australia took a page from America's 📖. According to their findings, it only takes 3 generations for black( original ancestor) to become white . Just like in America, they tried to kill the( savage) Indian save the man by encouraging intermarriage besides straight-up genocide physically as well as on paper. The story is true and is about the lost generations of aboriginal children stolen and taken into schools as well 😔 ITS about 3 sisters of mixed race who were stolen and 2 found their way back to their people 5000 miles away from were they were taken. The other sister decided to stay she liked it better there ( she was passable for white) . Those children who were passable were taken educated and adopted into white families if they were young enough not to remember much or was white enough to pass if they were old enough to remember they still couldn't go home they were forced to forget .Anyway, many so-called white Australians have black aboriginal ancestors as well just as much as white here in the states ans in south Africa ( the original Afrikaners were the children of Dutch men and koi San women or Xhosa women THEN the British and Germans came
One of my grandma's did it also. It was hard, the dark skinned granny disliked the half white one the passed as white and avoided the hardships. I had to grow up listening to that mess and being stuck in the middle. ☹️
Hey I’m from Nebraska! I also read Passing by Nella Larsen for an online class before.
Could you do a video about J Edgar Hoover passing for white?
@nytn
3 ай бұрын
I would love to learn his story! going to write that one down
@frederickgriffith7004
3 ай бұрын
My Louisiana creole Mama said all along he was passing. We happened to see it on the news together back in 1972.When he died.First thing she said, "He been self hateful the whole of his life ". Mama What do you mean. She said, "He hate us to prove to White folks that he couldn't possibly be one of us".
@brachiator1
3 ай бұрын
I have seen claims about Hoover, but I am not sure that any biographer tried to investigate or verify this stuff.
I felt Robyn was unfair to the "Bohemian" family, its hard to be Black in America so I can understand why they didnt identify as Black.
@EyEReign
2 ай бұрын
I agree. I appreciate her transparency because her reaction to their reaction is normal. She had unrealistic hopes that they would suddenly want to become more involved in their family now that they "know" they have more family and that they are black. The reality is that they are probably accepting of it but are not ready to attend family reunions or have regular contact. These things take time, and they may never participate in a family reunion. She has to be willing to accept that she did her part to end the secrecy and extend the invitation to get to know their family. She has done excellent work that should be respected and highly regarded.
@danielleb7416
Ай бұрын
They also probably knew little about the gifts of being Black, being within a Black family and the larger Black community.
My grandmother's aunt, my great great aunt Marie, went to New Orleans on the weekends and passed for white because everyone in Mobile, Alabama, knew our family as a black family. My momma said, "Times were bad back then and people did what they had to do just to live a decent life in the United States and in the South."
Good evening from Copperhill Tn. 😊
The documentary Little White Lies is one you should watch and cover. It’s a crazy story of passing, ( and delusion) due to infidelity and a whole community committed to keeping up a lie. It’s very unsettling.
Peace from California. 🙏🏾
I know people who are part black but youd never know if they hadnt told you. Genetics are weird
@catherinesterling1685
2 ай бұрын
But we can always tell the spice always shine through
I always enjoy your shows!!😊
@nytn
3 ай бұрын
I appreciate that!Always good to see you on here :) the cicadas are going nuts over here now
The tether in this post creator is great.
Girl when you first posted your documentary i told you to look her up and look up this documentary because she already did most the work you were beginning to do .
My grandson is 4years old and he has European and African roots. All his features are European including his hair. He understands he is biracial even though people are confused of his ethnicity.
It's Joanne from planet NJ. I have a couple of genetic disorders (asthma and a blood clotting disorder). Sometimes there's a need to know. Awkward moments after the birth of a child 3 generations away from a Black ancestor have happened, too.
I watched this documentary years ago and it definitely rekindled my interests in the phenomenon of racial passing. If I remember correctly, the documentarian ends up going to meet her cousins(her great aunt's children and grandchildren) in Nebraska and it's hard to believe that some of never knew the truth until their mother basically revealed it on her deathbed. Some of the Aunt's children look just like so many Louisianan Creoles. If you want to learn about an interesting story of passing in American history, look up "Harry Pace". A Black man who started one of the 1st Black American Music Labels, Black Swan Records, was a staunch "Raceman"(what they called Black Social Activist) back in the day, was mentored by W.E.B. Du Bois, then decided to pass in order to buy a home in a segregated Chicago Suburb. Morover his children who could pass as well, married White spouses and hid their true lineage from everyone including their own children for decades. NPR did a great podcast series about Pace and his family. If it wasn't so ridiculous, it would be tragic.
@vanessapete1091
3 ай бұрын
I'm intrigued. Never heard of him. I'm gonna look him up.
@nytn
3 ай бұрын
I can’t wait to look into this. It’s incredible the choices some people felt compelled to make, often for the children (better neighborhood??) but who then are robbed of their heritage. Robbing Peter to pay Paul in some ways.
@EyEReign
3 ай бұрын
I'm going to read about him now, too. Thank you. I'd like to add the story about Anatole Broyard, the NY Times writer/editor from New Orleans who passed for white. His daughter wrote a book in the mid-2000s about her discovery that he was passing.
@nerdlarge4691
2 ай бұрын
@@nytn Agreed. Pace's case is so peculiar because he was one of the most prominent Black men in Chicago during his time. After he shut down his record label, he started a successful law firm that catered to the Black Chicago Community. He was a part of the Black Elite unlike your Great Grandmother for example who was a poor widow with young children far from home(no disrespect). Pace had resources and a community behind him. And he and his family discarded all that accomplishment and history to pass as an average, middle class White family.
@nerdlarge4691
2 ай бұрын
@@EyEReign Yeah, I remember reading about Broyard in college around that time and watching an interview with his daughter too. Broyard seemed like a weird bird. His rationale for passing seemed very narcissistic. He basically wanted to be a writer unburdened by the need to write about race. I honestly don't have much symptom for his decision. His non-passing family members basically lived an hour away and he cut them out his and his children's life. I think that book/movie "The Human Stain" was somewhat inspired by his life.
I have white-looking family members ( both parents are black). It does happen in Black American Native society where you have the darkest to whitest looking people in the same family.
I watched this when it first came out. I thought it was a great series and well done. What struck me about the whole series is that White folk know they don't want any parts of the life that Black people live because they know what gets said and don't in all White environments. They know full well that being White is an effortless advantage in American life. I wouldn't want to give that up or damage it either! Two parts stood out to me in this series: 1) When they talked about the oldest son always getting called out about how dark he was and how he had an Afro and everyone insisted he was Sicilian. 2) When two of the daughters and a niece attended the family reunion for the first time. The sister who really embraced the whole revelation still lived in Nebraska. Another sister lived in Maryland so she agreed to attend with her daughter. When they got to the Friday afternoon meet and greet, it was no question that they were asking relatives because they looked just like half their cousins (this was a "high yellow" family in general). That sister from Maryland didn't participate in the rest of the activities that night because she was too overcome. I can only imagine that her works was rocked.
It's the laws that were passed is why people are saying that. The laws dictated the differences from being white. White was to be the dominate color to have power and access.
I am white, white, white, with .02% Native American, and .02 Somali. We were raised to be proud of our Native American heritage. But we never even know of the Somali. I still haven't found the ancestor that came from Africa, but I keep searching. It had to be kept SUCH a secret. But it visibly showed in my grandmother. She always avoided the sun and had an afro.
i believe it's about inheritance, if a lawmaker has mixed children, he was sympathetic to w passing, but if the lawyer has mixed sibling, he was against it, my experience with modern day slavery is that your own family decides who is a slave and who is mmaster.
I'm a mixed up race ❤
I watch you cause you teach me “whites” truly don’t know the Blk journey. A lot things you post we already know but I an glad you are telling from your side. I just met my white passing family and its truly surreal.
@nytn
2 ай бұрын
You are so welcome. How did that go??? I have got to hear that
I watched thia last year! Probably rewatched 10 times. Great Documentary
@nytn
2 ай бұрын
I cant wait to see episode 2! Im trying to hold out til i can react lol
I remember watching this whole series last year, so I won't do any spoilers, but it was very interesting to say the least!
This happens elsewhere in my daughters' family (Dad's side) they have relatives that were designated "Capetown Coloured" which is a separate category under apartheid. They have a relative who moved away and start passing as white in order to get better jobs, better treatment. I was got the sense of a bit of resentment from the rest of the family.
The more I watch your channel the more confused I become by the topic. I’m sympathetic but becoming empathetic because I know for a fact I have white passing relatives in my family and I never questioned until this video why? These people were “known” to the family yet not familiar. This is a total mind *uck and I’m trying to wrap my brain around the affects this phenomenon has had on my family now. I swear before this video I couldn’t relate! It just dawned on me that I too am affected by this 😮
They do not appear white
I watched this and it was an interesting documentary. But I think the filmmaker had high expectations for her distant family in wanting to meet them.
I encourage you all to watch the movie Imitation of Life. It is an emotional story of a mother and her white passing daughter and their relationship as the daughter grows. It taught me to always honor my mother no matter the circumstance.
It impacts the whole country/world and why access and power is situated the way it is.
If you really want to cry, watch the tearjerker called Imitation of Life which is all about "white passing."
@kathleenking47
2 ай бұрын
Done in the Eisenhower years Yet, his mom looked black presenting The irony
A very touching video and tribute to not only her...But yourself too. This "passing" went on more often than you would imagine, and some tried to come back to the African/Black side...But were rejected. In my time...We knew of at least 6 "passe" [as we called them] and they actually married or with people of other races and ethnicity, that would reject them if they knew they were actually Black, or white passing, or with any trace of African/Black blood. This too...Went on in the Black community and they were vilified and shunned and used as a examples of racial heresy...And worse. My uncle from Kentucky, could have actually passed...If he wanted to...And shunned this for Black people, marring a Black woman [my Aunt] and actually told of some Caucasians telling him jokes and making comments using racial epithets against Blacks...Until he told them he was one...And tune[s] changed immediately. He was proud to be Black mixed and it showed and he relayed to this us. There are many stories like this...And i will pass this one to someone woman] who can maybe expand on this for you on this topic, as she married a Italian Caucasian, and he did not know....could say lots more as i know many these people, known and unknown to the rest. Peace
@user-cs1mc4vg7q
3 ай бұрын
The people that can tell you the real truth about racism in this country are others YTs, and people that can pass. People speak their truth behind closed doors, while they lie and deny in public.
Life is a trip, sometimes you just have to go for the ride.
My mom passed to pass red lining to get a better home for our family. It was still a fight after the fact cause my dad is darker skinned like me. That was in the late 70s
I come from a mixed raced family, black Gpa White Gma. Several of my aunties can pass for white but never did. I remember back in the late 70’s when our family moved to Orange County CA my cousins and I had to hide in the bushes when my mom and aunt went to look for apartments to rent. Apt manager’s wouldn’t rent to black folks. But if it was just my mom and her sisters inquiring they wouldn’t know.
The sad part of it all is that the truth is not taught in schools and legislators are making sure it doesn’t. Why afraid of the truth? There are root cause to behaviours and medical issues that goes back generations including from white ancestry ( and proven trauma carries through DNA through generations). For me as a “light” skinned AA woman, I struggled with the “why” I look like I do and where I came from. There were 9 of us and 6 out of the 9 are very light skinned, with one that was very pale and could have definitely passed for sure as white. We were told we had Native American ancestry, which was somewhat true ( I was called Indian from a stranger at a visit to Washington when I was 7). DNA showed that we had more than the standard 25-30 percentage of white, which meant there was closer kinship. They kept it secret or gave different versions of those that went up North to pass. It’s very important to know the truth, despite how uncomfortable it is. My DNA on ancestry is pretty much a rainbow of ethnicities. But, I have hope in people such as yourself bringing it to the forefront. I relate very much to your content and have several stories that happen within my maternal line that was public and shocking! I found this out not by family members, but by a random visit to the library and seeing an article about a reporter speaking there that wrote a book about that side of the family (Lay This Body Down is the book). OUR HISTORY MATTERS!!
The Movie "Imitation of Life", is about passing for white by a bi-racial woman. A good telling of what has occurred in America.
It's not called White passing, it's just passing. Some older generations didn't talk about this to the young folk. I know there was a movie called Pinkie about this subject.
@piedradesechada
27 күн бұрын
Pinky is excellent
Let this be a lesson in genetic history. Black comes in all shades, colors, hair textures, and features.
From its inception, this modern concept of "race" was modeled after an ancient theorem of the Great Chain of Being, which posited natural categories on a hierarchy established by God or nature. Thus "race" was a mode of classification linked specifically to peoples in the colonial situation. It subsumed a growing ideology of inequality devised to rationalize European attitudes and treatment of the conquered and enslaved peoples. Proponents of slavery in particular during the 19th century used "race" to justify the retention of slavery. The ideology magnified the differences among Europeans, Africans, and Indians, established a rigid hierarchy of socially exclusive categories underscored and bolstered unequal rank and status differences, and provided the rationalization that the inequality was natural or God-given. The different physical traits of African-Americans and Indians became markers or symbols of their status differences. As they were constructing US society, leaders among European-Americans fabricated the cultural/behavioral characteristics associated with each "race," linking superior traits with Europeans and negative and inferior ones to blacks and Indians. Numerous arbitrary and fictitious beliefs about the different peoples were institutionalized and deeply embedded in American thought. Early in the 19th century the growing fields of science began to reflect the public consciousness about human differences. Differences among the "racial" categories were projected to their greatest extreme when the argument was posed that Africans, Indians, and Europeans were separate species, with Africans the least human and closer taxonomically to apes. Ultimately "race" as an ideology about human differences was subsequently spread to other areas of the world. It became a strategy for dividing, ranking, and controlling colonized people used by colonial powers everywhere. But it was not limited to the colonial situation. In the latter part of the 19th century it was employed by Europeans to rank one another and to justify social, economic, and political inequalities among their peoples. During World War II, the Nazis under Adolf Hitler enjoined the expanded ideology of "race" and "racial" differences and took them to a logical end: the extermination of 11 million people of "inferior races" (e.g., Jews, Gypsies, Africans, homosexuals, and so forth) and other unspeakable brutalities of the Holocaust. At the end of the 20th century, we now understand that human cultural behavior is learned, conditioned into infants beginning at birth, and always subject to modification. No human is born with a built-in culture or language. Our temperaments, dispositions, and personalities, regardless of genetic propensities, are developed within sets of meanings and values that we call "culture." Studies of infant and early childhood learning and behavior attest to the reality of our cultures in forming who we are. It is a basic tenet of anthropological knowledge that all normal human beings have the capacity to learn any cultural behavior. The American experience with immigrants from hundreds of different language and cultural backgrounds who have acquired some version of American culture traits and behavior is the clearest evidence of this fact. Moreover, people of all physical variations have learned different cultural behaviors and continue to do so as modern transportation moves millions of immigrants around the world. How people have been accepted and treated within the context of a given society or culture has a direct impact on how they perform in that society. The "racial" worldview was invented to assign some groups to perpetual low status, while others were permitted access to privilege, power, and wealth. The tragedy in the United States has been that the policies and practices stemming from this worldview succeeded all too well in constructing unequal populations among Europeans, Native Americans, and peoples of African descent. Given what we know about the capacity of normal humans to achieve and function within any culture, we conclude that present-day inequalities between so-called "racial" groups are not consequences of their biological inheritance but products of historical and contemporary social, economic, educational, and political circumstances. American Anthropological Association Statement on "Race" (May 17, 1998)
Shalom excellent video ❤❤❤❤❤
The social (invention) construct of "race" has caused so many problems and " I'm better than you attitude". I think we are made up of our Ancestral Heritage, Culture, Family and the Country we have citizenship . We are all humans that developed according to the part of the world we were born into. I have heard that some black Americans move to a country in Africa and then encounter unexpected problems of fitting in because , they don't. I enjoy the information in your videos. I am saddened that humanity is so caught up in "racial and religious" conflicts still in 2024. Important research and work you are doing and I hope everyone appreciates you and this gift you provide !