1. Class 6
EWRT 1B

2. AGENDA
 Exam 1: Vocab and Terms
 Discussion:
 Kennedy
 QHQ: The Human Stain
 QHQ: "The Passing of Grandison‖
 Presentation: Introduction to Essay 2:
 In-Class Writing: Essay 2 Brainstorming

3. Terms Exam 1
 You have 20
minutes to
complete the
exam.
 Death Penalty 

4. Discussion:
―Racial Passing‖ Randall Kennedy
The Human Stain Phillip Roth
"The Passing of Grandison‖ Charles Chesnutt

5. Why do People Pass?
Stories of Randall Kennedy

6.  One extraordinary instance occurred in 1848 when
Ellen Craft—the daughter of a master and his slave
mistress—escaped from bondage by train, boat, and
carriage on a four-day journey from
Macon, Georgia, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[12]
Ellen Craft pretended to be white. Her slave husband
was part of her disguise; he pretended to be her
servant. And there was one more twist: Ellen Craft
traveled not as a white woman but as a white man. To
obtain freedom for herself and her husband, she
temporarily traversed gender as well as racial
lines.[13]
To Escape Bondage

7.  Walter White, working on behalf of the NAACP, gathered
facts about lynchings and other atrocities and carefully
publicized them in an effort to arouse American public
opinion. However, the daring way in which he pursued this
task brought him close to danger. In 1919, he traveled to
Phillips County, Arkansas, to investigate the deaths of some
250 blacks killed in an effort to discourage collective
organization by African American cotton farmers. When
whites in Phillips County became aware of White's
purpose, he was forced to escape hurriedly. ―You‘re leaving
mister, just when the fun is going to start,‖ White recalls
being told by the conductor of the train on which he made
his getaway. ―A damned yellow nigger is down here passing
for white and the boys are going to get him.‖
To Get Information

8.  Goaded by false stories of Negro men raping white
women, a white mob terrorized blacks in Georgia‘s
capital. Caught in town amidst marauding whites, two
African Americans escaped serious injury only because
of their light skin. They witnessed, however, terrible
crimes: ―We saw a lame Negro bootblack . . . pathetically
try to outrun a mob of whites. Less than a hundred yards
from us the chase ended. We saw clubs and fists
descending to the accompaniment of savage shouting
and cursing. Suddenly a voice cried, ―There goes
another nigger!‖ Its work done, the mob went after new
prey. The body with the withered foot lay dead in a pool
of blood in the street.
For Safety

9.  Some passed as white during the workday, while
presenting themselves as African American outside of the
workplace. Chronicling this phenomenon in White By Day .
. . Negro by Night, a 1952 article in Ebony magazine
relates the following story: One girl who passed to get work
as a clerk in a Chicago loop department store thought she
had lost her job when an old-time, well-meaning friend of
her mother came in and said in happy surprise, ―Well,
Baby, it sure is good to see this store is finally hiring
colored girls.‖ Fortunately she was overheard only by one
other clerk who was a liberal and a good friend of the girl
who was passing and the secret did not get out.
To Advance Occupational Ambition

10.  Prevented by state law from freeing his
slaves, Michael Healy sent his children to the North
where they could be educated and also be free of
bondage in the event of their father‘s demise. James
Augustine Healy (1830–1900) was a member of the
first graduating class of the College of the Holy Cross
in Worcester, Massachusetts. He pursued clerical
studies in Canada and France, became a priest in
Boston, and served for twenty-five years as the
Catholic bishop of Portland, Maine.
To Pursue Education

11.  To shop, sleep, or eat meals at racially exclusive
establishments
 Hospitals were divided into two sections. The white
section was clean and renovated; the black section, dirty
and dilapidated. The physician took a light-skinned man
to the white section of the hospital. Before long, though,
a visit by a son-in-law apprized the hospital staff of their
―error.‖ His son wrote that his father ―was snatched from
the examination table lest he contaminate the ‗white‘ air,
and taken hurriedly across the street in a driving
downpour . . . to the ‗Negro‘ ward‖ where he died sixteen
days later.
To Get Access to Services

12.  Rachel Kennedy passed as white not visually but
aurally.
When pressed to talk on the telephone with some
authority on an important matter—a consumer
complaint, dealing with police, seeking employment or
educational opportunities—she would adopt an accent
that most listeners would associate with the speech of a
white person. She put on countless stellar performances
before an appreciative household audience that viewed
these affairs as comical episodes in the American racial
tragedy.
To Establish Credibility

13.  St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton report that
some light-skinned Negroes in Chicago they
interviewed in the forties spoke of going to white
establishments ―just to see what they are like and to
get a thrill.‖
Curiosity and Fun

14.  The non-fiction literature by and about passers is full of references to
passing as a mode of resistance or subversion.
 Ray Stannard Baker noted that passing awakened glee among many
Negroes because they viewed it as a way of ―getting even with the
dominant white man.‖
 Langston Hughes repeatedly defended passing as a joke on racism.
 Gregory Howard Williams relates that his father derived great psychic
satisfaction by defying the rules of segregation when he lived in
Virginia as the husband of a white woman and the President of a
(supposedly) lily-white chapter of the American Legion.
 Williams also relates that his brother got a thrill from romancing white
girls who would surely have spurned him had they perceived him to be
a Negro.
More Reasons to Pass

15. The Human Stain
Coleman and the Charges of
Racism
• Do you think that Coleman Silk had the intention to insult the
students by saying ―Do they exist or are they spooks?‖
• Why wouldn‘t Coleman‘s [African American] friend at the
meeting stand up for him, knowing his friends true feelings?
• Why couldn‘t Coleman reveal that he was black at the time he
was getting fired?Do you think that Coleman Silk overreacted to
the judgment by the school?
• Did he ever reveal to his wife that he was black? It seems like
he did and she accepted it when they have that talk before she
dies.

16. Coleman and Steena
• Why did Coleman introduce […] Steena to his mother, knowing
that she might leave him for that?
• Why was Coleman sure that Steena would stay with him after
learning his lineage?
• Why did Coleman not tell his girlfriend about his mother being
black before they met in person?
• After Steena expressed how much she loved Coleman. Why did
she leave him after finding out he was passing as a white male?
• Will Steena regret her decision? Will she be better off without
Coleman?
• Why didn‘t Coleman go after Steena and try to make things right
when she got up and left?

17. Coleman and Faunia
• What made Coleman so attracted to Faunia Farley and why
would he continue to stay with her even after discovering all the
trouble she brings?
• Why did Coleman decide to tell Iris that his parents were dead,
and completely reject his racial background but reveal his racial
identity to Faunia?
• Would Faunia have stayed with Coleman even she had found out
he was black since the beginning rather than the end? Why?
• Lester continually attributed part of his anger to Faunia ―fucking
an old Jew‖, which shows that he never realized that Coleman
was biracial. Would this knowledge have changed his attitude, or
did it purely have to do with Faunia being with another man?

18. • When Coleman was a young man, before he brought
Steena home, did he take an active role in his passing for
white?
• How did Coleman feel about passing? And was it easier
emotionally to pass as a white man after his father died?
• Did Coleman actually benefit from passing? It almost
seems that passing made things worse for him.
• After Coleman‘s girlfriend told him that she could not be
with him, Coleman hits his opponent like he hates black
people: is he just mad that he can‘t be with his girlfriend
because he is black?
• Can society lead you to hate your own race?
Anger, Fear, and Regret

19. Larger Issues
• Does color make that much difference to change your
love for the person just because of your color?
• Can you really love someone if you don‘t know
everything about them?
• Assuming we all think it is moral to allow everyone to
have equal opportunity, is it moral to still
make/have/keep racial distinctions ?
• Is there a difference between intentionally passing and
allowing others to believe you are something or
someone you are not?

20. "The Passing of Grandison”
• What is the significance behind Grandison‘s passing?
• What would ever be a good reason for someone to stay
enslaved when they have the opportunity for freedom?
• Was Grandison‘s well mannered behavior a part of his plan
to escape?
• Why did Grandison take so long to take the opportunity to
escape?
• Would Grandison want to leave if there was no chance to see
his family again or was his family greater than freedom?
• Grandison being the loyal slave he was, when did he decide
to part away and plan against his master for the well being of
his family?
• Was Grandison really kidnapped or was that part of his plan?

21. • Since Dick has a wealthy dad and will inherit his
fortunes, why does he go so far to impress his
girlfriend when he could get any other girl?
• Does the extreme severity of pushing to illegally
freeing a slave at the time, put Dick in the right light
but for the wrong reasons?
• Dick’s intentions of setting Grandison free was
good, but was it right?
• How did dick feel after knowing that the whole family
was gone and knowing he was a part of why it
happened?

22. Essay #2
The Argument Essay

23. Introduction to Essay 2:
―If passing for white will get a fellow better accommodations
on the train, better seats in the theatre, immunity from
insults in public places, and may even save his life from a
mob,‖ wrote William Pickens, ―only idiots would fail to seize
the advantages of passing, at least occasionally if not
permanently‖ (―Racial Segregation,‖ Opportunity, December
1927 (3).
Write an essay of four to six pages arguing for or against
William Pickens‘s statement. Use support from the texts
you have read so far, The Human Stain, our
discussions, and your own insights. Remember to format
your essay in MLA style. This essay will require citations
and a works cited page.

24. The Prompt:
If passing for white will get a fellow better accommodations on the
train, better seats in the theatre, immunity from insults in public places, and
may even save his life from a mob,‖ only idiots would fail to seize the
advantages of passing, at least occasionally if not permanently.‖
Do you agree with Pickens's
statement?
If yes, why?
If no, why not?

25. HOMEWORK
 Reading: Hughes: "Who's
Passing for Who?‖
 Post #9 : QHQ: ―Who‘s
Passing for Who?‖
 Think about Pickens‘s
statement and whether you
agree with it or not.
Consider which texts you
might use to support your
beliefs. How would you use
them?