76-214 Passing and the African-American Novel Units: 9.0 Department: English Related URLs: http://hss.cmu.edu/HTML/departments/engl The phenomenon of "Passing" has been a consistent one throughout African American history. The term refers to the ability and the willingness of an individual to be accepted as a member of a different racial or ethnic group for specific reasons. Civil rights leader Walter Frances White passed for white while investigating lynchings and other hate crimes, for example, where his black identity would have made him a target. Although rarer in contemporary society, passing was common enough to influence the themes, plots and characterizations of past African American authors and texts. This class will examine this influence, and will look at multiple instances of passing occurring in the African American Novel, as well as chart the confluence of social and cultural forces that underpin racial passing in the United States.

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