Multi Racial Reads #20 and #21Posted in Articles, Biography, History, Media Archive, Passing, United States on 2019-07-26 00:13Z by Steven |
Multi Racial Reads #20 and #21
Carol Baldwin’s Blog
2019-07-22
It’s been awhile since I’ve shared the books that I read while writing Half-Truths. Here are two more books that have helped me understand one of my characters, Lillian Harris.
If you aren’t familiar with Half-Truths, this is the pitch for my book:
In the heavily segregated South, fifteen-year-old Kate Dinsmore’s world is shaken when she realizes she’s related to her grandmother’s Black housemaid. This knowledge leads Kate to truths that threaten to destroy her family.
Ever since I saw the pictures of the principals in the hallway of the former Rosenwald School in Charlotte, NC and saw a man who appeared White but was Black, I knew that my book would revolve around two girls—Kate Dinsmore and Lillian Harris—who were related but belonged to two different races.
What I didn’t know was what Lillian looked like.
Light, Bright, and Damn Near White by Michelle Gordon Jackson helped me figure that out…
…But what about the Blacks who chose to pass? What was their life like?
Allyson Hobbs’ book, A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life, pointedly showed me the pain and difficulties associating with passing…
Read the entire article here.