Through the prism 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 Michael 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 ...
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Through the prism 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 Michael 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 president of Georgetown University. Of the two sisters who became nuns, one was appointed the superior of convents in the United States and Canada. Another brother served for twenty years as a captain in the U.S. Coast Guard, enforcing law and order in the waters off Alaska. The Healy children's transition from black to white should not have been possible according to the prevailing understandings of race, but they accomplished it with apparent ease. Relying on their abilities, and in most cases choosing celibacy, which precluded mixed-race offspring, they forged a place for themselves. They also benefited from the support of people in the church and elsewhere. Even those white Americans who knew the family's background chose to overlook their African ancestry and thereby help them to "get away" with passing. By exploring the lifelong struggles of the members of the Healy family to redefine themselves in a racially polarized society, this book makes a distinctive contribution to our understanding of the enduring dilemma of race in America.
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Add this copy of Passing for White: Race, Religion, and the Healy Family to cart. $2.26, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by University of Massachusetts Press.
Add this copy of Passing for White: Race, Religion, and the Healy Family to cart. $2.26, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by University of Massachusetts Press.
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Add this copy of Passing for White: Race, Religion, and the Healy Family to cart. $15.00, very good condition, Sold by Kubik Fine Books Ltd rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dayton, OH, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by University of Massachusetts Press.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good. 284p. A hardcover book in near-fine condition with a fine dustjacket. Owner's lengthy gift inscription on front endpaper, but otherwise clean and tight, and jacket fully intact. A study of the mixed-race children of Southern planter Michael Morris Healy and his slave Eliza. Most of their children were Catholic priests and nuns, including Bishop James Augustine Healy.
Add this copy of Passing for White: Race, Religion, and the Healy Family to cart. $15.51, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2003 by University of Massachusetts Press.
Add this copy of Passing for White: Race, Religion, and the Healy Family to cart. $15.51, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2003 by University of Massachusetts Press.
Add this copy of Passing for White: Race, Religion, and the Healy Family to cart. $16.00, like new condition, Sold by Schindler-Graf Booksellers rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Westlake, OH, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by University of Massachusetts Press.
Add this copy of Passing for White: Race, Religion, and the Healy Family to cart. $16.21, good condition, Sold by SurplusTextSeller rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Columbia, MO, UNITED STATES, published 2003 by University of Massachusetts Press.
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Good. Ships same day or next business day! UPS shipping available (Priority Mail for AK/HI/APO/PO Boxes). Used sticker and some writing and/or highlighting. Used books may not include working access code. Used books will not include dust jackets.
