Passing for white race, religion, and the Healy Family, 1820-1920
O'Toole James M2002
Book
Total copies: 1
Subject: Through the perspective of one family's experience, this book explores questions of racial identity, religious tolerance, and black-white 'passing' in America. Spanning the century from 1820 to 1920, it tells the story of Micheal Morris Healy, a white Irish immigrant planter in Georgia; his African American slave Eliza Clark Healy, who was also his wife; and their nine children. Legally slaves, these brothers and sisters were smuggled north before the Civil War to be educated. In spite of the hardships imposed by American society on persons of mixed racial heritage, the Healy children achieved considerable success. Rejecting the convention that defined as black anyone with 'one drop of Negro blood,' they were able to transform themselves into white Americans. Their unlikely ally in this transition was the Catholic church, as several of them became priests or nuns. One brother served as a bishop in Maine, another as rector of the Cathedral in Boston, and a third as a president.
Author:
Edition:
1st ed
Imprint:
Amherst 2002 University of Massachusetts Press
Collation:
284p
ISBN:
1558493417
Dewey class:
HI.3.03OTO
Local class:
HI.3.03/OTO
Language:
English
BRN:
1851324