I am African American and my paternal great grandmother was biracial (blk/white). She looked like a white woman, fair skin, blue eyes, straight hair and spoke like a southern black woman. Born in 1903, she could have easily passed as a white woman. I’m so proud she did not and instead graduated from a historically black college, Grambling University in the 1920s. She passed away at 103 yrs old.
That’s a incredible story, I’m glad she embraced her whole identity. I’m curious though in those days in which inter-racial relations was illegal did she ever talk about the story of her parents coming together?
@feliciafriend3954 Her whole identity??? That woman was most likely a Quadroon( 1/4 black) to pass as fully White. She would have fit in more at a White University than Black if she spoke proper English than slave or bad English; you know she stood out among the Black students!
My mother is from Louisiana and now deceased but she always told me some of our relatives and family friends passed for white back in the 20s, 30s, and 40s in order to get jobs and live better lives and avoid racism. My mother was very fair skinned as were some of her siblings. I am proud to say my mother never denied being a black woman despite the racism she endured during that time. She was always true to herself!!
What a heartbreaking time in our history. Not that it's perfect now... and I think spending more time on that era would help us all so much. Im happy for you that you were able to have your heritage passed down to you-- a gift.
My GrandDad didn't deliberately pass for white, but he was sometimes mistaken for white. There was a little hotel in Texas where GrandDad stayed whenever he passed through there (circa 1939). There were no issues until on one trip, he brought my Dad with him. My Dad was brown-skinned and obviously African-American. The proprietor of the hotel asked GrandDad "Who's this you got with you?" GrandDad said "This is my younger boy" and gave him my Dad's name. The hotel owner was mortified. He told my GrandDad "Reverend, I had no idea. I can't let you stay in my hotel, the Klan would burn it down. But I'll tell you what, you can stay in the guest room of my house." So my father and grandfather did exactly that, they stayed in his guest room that night and moved on the next morning. GrandDad never stopped at that hotel again.
This made me so sad. I think you would enjoy watching episode 3 about my Louisiana family's experience. It was really hard to edit that video, I was so upset. Such a similar story. Episode 3: ua-cam.com/video/bLxaTBhCu_Y/v-deo.html
Just look how darker skinned Black women treat lighter-skinned Mixed-race women especially simply because they are not really Black, AND because they received preferential treatment by Black men and in society in general. Their day for RE-unification is in progress. They deserve it.
@@BORN-to-Run I could easily generalize my experiences and say ALL light-skin mixed race females have treated me horribly including my own mother, but my grandmother who was also a light skin Creole woman was the most wonderful human to ever live. Stop generalizing billions of dark skin Black ladies. You are apart of the problem.
I'm from south Louisiana, and know many Creole people who look like, and can pass for white. There are pockets of Creoles all over Louisiana, especially in Natchitoches. Has any ever heard of the Cane River Creoles ? It's funny that none of them mentioned it. My grandmother on both sides of my family were Mullatto. There is lots of mixture in Louisiana. My family never thought it was anything strange.
This is why my mom used to tell white people you are not as white as you think you are, I always thought that was a strange saying but now I truly understand. Because of racism has caused Black people so much in terms of the loss of family connections and generational hurt that when they find out the truth it is devastating sometimes so much so that white people do not want to be black they deny that part is who they are and it’s sad because do not live in their authentic life.
Thank you for watching sharing that--it's a good point. I also think it's a strange idea....if you are raised white and you look white and you're mostly white....but your recent family members were not white....something Im thinking about for a future video. I appreciate you taking the time to comment that.
@@BlackSheep-83 thats so sad , I grew up in a white girl in a white neighbourhood and I always admired dark brown eyes and rich dark black / brown hair I wished I had dark hair and all my life I’ve dyed my hair very dark I , My Daughter married a Burmese boy and now have a gorgeous dark haired dark boy and he’s the apple of my eye , @Dream Lover there are so many people like me who love dark beauty ❤
My great grandmother was so light that she could’ve passed for yt but chose not to . She went to Fort Valley and was one of the 1st Black teachers n Atlanta. I’m saying this to say that it was a choice
I had distant relatives during slavery who were freed, pass for white and bought their still enslaved darker skinned relatives. It was a very interesting story my aunt told us about. People did what they had to do, to survive. I also have relatives that could pass for white, but never did. They would tell me things that white people would say about black people, thinking they were white too. And when they would tell them that they were black, they wouldn't believe them.
Katrina- wow! My family has the same story about relatives buying enslaved relatives. I just located all of the information recently. Blew me away. I plan to share it on here soon
My great aunt told me similar stories. She could pass. You'd never know. She worked as a maid in many "wealthy" homes. She told me the things that were told to her were sickening. It was hard for her to look some of these people in the eye. She told that she always made it a point to tell them her race when it was her last day. She said the look on their faces was absolutely priceless. One of them apologized to her!
Could you go into more detail about your p adding relatives buying your darker Skinner relatives? It's interesting. I want to know more! How did they try them? Why did they buy them?
This happened in our family, my great grandmother was born on a reservation in grande ronde Oregon, left at an early age, didn’t tell anyone about her Native American heritage and because of how light her skin was( even though she was 100% blood quantum), she could pass as Caucasian. My grandmother’s sisters and brothers did a genealogy and we found out we were Native American and belonged to the confederated tribes of grande ronde, and were kalapuyan , this was in 1998, after her passing. Our family wrote a book to chronicle our ancestors all the way back to the the 1600’s, so that we will always have our history and we continue to add to it.
My family lived it. I don't have to imagine it. Thank God we made it through the worst time, Some people are trying to turn back the hands of time. I keep informed on what's on the horizon, because God is still in control.
My great grandma was 100% American Indian and my grandmother would NEVER say it because it was looked down upon in West Virginia at that time. So I can identify with having my family's ethnicity covered up or left out. Now they are both gone..but I ( and my kids) tan, but do not freckle or burn and we all have bright blue eyes. I've just started to look into DNA testing ( for my boys). It's so sad these women and families ( mine included) felt that they had to hide this😢❤
I am a white woman and my brother and I got dna tests and uncovered a small amount of African descent. The test gave us a timeline for the ancestor that meant someone way back when must have passed as white at least publicly. Our family also had an old tale of having Native American blood way back and I have seen others with that tale who had the same hidden African ancestor. I suppose that was a safer claim that could give reason for certain physical traits and I suspect many people who have that Native American ancestor claim might find an African ancestor if they do a DNA test. I don't at all claim to be black--I am a very pale redhead--but I think it points to an American history tale that hasn't been taught to us correctly.
Heather, I am so glad you found the channel! You are right, there is an American history that we re missing-- and its OUR history. The history of many many descendants of people of color whose history has been lost for too long. I hope you stay around!
Heather your grandma L is the half sister of my grandma A. Our great grandma AW came from Louisiana. Our great great grandma L shares the same first name of your grandma L. She passed away in Albany, Ca. in the late 1930s without ever knowing her grandchildren nor they about her. On the Death Certificate she's listed mulatto. I'm in Sac area you have my name.
Every black family has a story about a family member who tried to pass whether it was successful or unsuccessful. This is interesting. Sad that she felt she didn’t have a choice, but joyful because you are finding your roots in a safe space.
Not Caribbean people lol. This is a uniquely American phenomenon, that’s why is so interesting because there are so many yt people with racialized ancestors that they don’t know about.
My Grandmother on my Mother's side passed. Although unintentional, it allowed her a means to provide better for her family. As others have previously mentioned, it meant survival in a hot, racially divided era.
Not true at all. As someone who comes from a long line of beautiful darkskinned people this is not my family’s story at all. Although very interesting, this is not every black families story.
The ones that did “pass” disappeared. We have a whole line that vanished but due to the phenotypes the other siblings had I’m sure that aunt probably live another life as a non black woman.
I'm Afro Cuban Afro Puerto Rican. This idea of passing, being ASHAMED of African heritage is strange to me. It's interesting that all the family keeps leaning on her being "Indian" when really the issue is her African heritage. From what you showed her census records listed her as "mulatto." That is a term I'm very familiar with because in Latin America that is what I'm called mulata, which mean African and European mixture not Indian. I'm really glad I am Latin America because with all of our problems, we embrace our African roots. We literally venerate our African ancestors in our religion, no matter how whyt our skin is, Brazilians, Cubans Puerto Ricans etc. lift up our African ancestors. Africa is the source of our music, foods, language, religions and beautiful sensual looks in every shade. America is an odd place, encouraging its people to deny the blood of the very people who gave all humans their humanity. I was raised in the Bronx but live in Rome now. I'm lucky to travel to Africa often, seeing the beautiful place that my ancestors came from. Watching your family members skirt around the word AFRICAN was odd from my perspective. I feel sorry for them it's like a self imposed prison, not accepting the richness of who you are because their country is built off of an illusion of whyt supremacy. Watching this as someone who comes from a culture blessed by an African identity, I am struck by the power of cultural hegemony. You can tell people a lie and after a while they will accept it as truth. Your people really believe Blackness is a source of shame wow 😳
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to reply. Some of her census records show her as Mexican because her mother's family came from the missions--I only showed one record, but she was mostly listed as Mulatto. I dont think anyone in my family is not accepting who we are...but honestly, we were raised white and look white now. Im not sure how much we really SHOULD be claiming. That's hard to figure out--claiming to be Black might do just as much damage in some ways. Im still wondering what to do about it.
Stop the cap. Twenty years ago so called afro-latinos were running around with "Me no black." If blackness was so accepted in Latin America, "sube la raza" wouldn't be thing.
So many families did this. There are so many white black people/ creoles that stayed in Louisiana. They passed for better jobs to live better. It was hard in those days being black and a person of color. She is not the only one that did this. I understand why they all did it.
I am so surprised to see this as common as it is. Up in NY, we really had no idea---I always thought my family was weird about our lineage but chalked it up to "some families don't care". I look back at my family and the stories I DID hear, and now things make more sense. I wish I had known sooner.
@@nytn I bet it is a shock, I am proud of y'all for doing this. Y'all please write a book.I am from Louisiana and know your family very well.We were told why many went off and passed. Some of the ones that passed would go off and do well, but secretly help the darker cousins to do better in life. I even have some old pictures.You all have a lot of cousins in Natchitoches black, white, and creole. I descend from the Metoyer, Labaume, De La Baume family from Campti Some of your cousins have formed two different Indian tribes.
thank you for commenting and for your kind words! I’ve been asking family to write the book! I have lots of Metoyer ancestors so we must be cousins. :) I know about the Indian tribes- but I’m not enrolled anywhere-still very much on the journey of figuring out who we are:)
That is bittersweet to hear. I’m glad to know the experience can be shared outside of our family to help give it context…but how heartbreaking for our families and so many others that this was their “normal. Thank you for sharing that and coming along on this journey!
@BrooklynBorn 83 this story really resonated with me, thank you for taking the time to comment. Is the "tragic mulatto" thing a reference to something I missed? Please fill me in! Also, I love what you said about identifying with the culture that nurtured you. I dont know if you saw episode 4 yet (just came out this morning) but it's basically....reflecting on how we all approach our identity differently, even in the same family. Im not sure how I would "identify" but I am proud now to know my heritage. And now my kids will know it too. Time to break the cycle.
@@nytn here in south Louisiana the word "mulatto" is like taboo, some accept it most don't. My Maw-Maw hated that word because she said it was everyone else's way of being disrespectful because they knew that you were of mixed lineage and could pass if you wanted to. Needless to say that's another reason why some families were divided because some felt as if the others thought they were better than them based upon their complexion. When actually they all just wanted to be comfortable in their own skin.
Yes it is...we were Chicago Creoles from Louisiana...they came up.north bc of racist attitudes but man I wish I grew up with both of my cultures Haitian Kreyol and Nola Creole
A lot of biracial and fair skinned Black folk “passed” as white because passing made their lives easier; especially during a time when being Black in America and anywhere else in the world was extremely difficult due to racism, classism, discrimination, and prejudices. As far as Ms. Lola not telling the truth about her age, it must be a Southern thing because my grandma made herself younger to; and she went by another name…lol. Thanks for sharing!❤
@@missamerica2694 I was talking about “passing”. It doesn’t matter if they were biracial or light skinned, fair skinned Black folk. They were “passing”. Back then, White people considered anyone with even one drop of African blood ( 1/8th rule) Black, Colored, Negro, Mulatto; and you could look white as snow. They are some light skinned Black folk that look as if they could be White. I don’t know what you were trying fished out of my comment, but My comment cannot stop someone from being who they are nor am I.
thanks for clearing this up. I couldnt figure out what she had done. Thats aweful that she felt she had to do this and carry it with her even to the end.
Many of our grandparents from that time were born by midwives at home. Once they had to register for vital records the information can get distorted. Plus the clerks weren’t too concerned with accuracy. My aunt was supposed to be Karon and the nurse wrote Carol so that’s her name
My paternal grandmother is very fair skinned with a sandy blonde hair color. I remember her telling me that when she was a kid people told her should could pass for white if her hair wasn’t so nappy. I’ve seen pictures of her as a toddler with a press and curl and she said she had been getting her hair straightened since she was 2. I guess we got lucky that she never had a desire to pass and that negative comments about skin color was never a thing in my family. I think she mainly didn’t want to pass out of fear of getting caught. I know that I’ve heard a story about her aunt being murdered and I think they played a part in her decision too. I recently found out that my grand father was actually Native American. My grandmother will be 91 in January and I hate that my generation just doesn’t know enough about her or her deceased husband. For her birthday my aunts and uncles talked a lot about their upbringing traveling down south to Mobile, things that they didn’t keep tradition when my generation came around. I would like to get those stories from her before it’s too late. It’s a very strange world we live in and no one is 100% of anything.
Yes-- get those stories!! That is a gift to them, to you, and future generations. I regret so much not doing this sooner. And you are right----we are mostly all a mix and related more than we think
Some had to completely distance from family. If they passed away before getting back home then their offspring may never know their true race. I believe that is the circumstance of many Americans. Even very racist folk
Who blames her? This world operates on a caste system. Even people of color partake, even if they don't realize it. The Europeans have done a lot of harm to the entire world. I personally love melanated skin.
It’s not just the Europeans tho… Asian countries are the same way and have been way before any European influence came their way. Back in the old days if you had darker skin it meant you worked all day in the sun and were poor. The wealthy could stay out of the sun and thus lighter skin was seen as better, prettier and more desirable. It’s a world wide idea, mostly for that reason.
8th-Generation New Orleanian here and yes this has happened in many families in Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast (Many people don’t know that Mobile was actually the first major French settlement on the coast but they had a conflict local Native America tribes and a lot of people moved to New Orleans after that). Creole culture has always been very hush hush. Names stick out and people want to make sure you are not putting family through the mud. Speaking on passing is apart of this. Passing allowed people to move freely outside of the rigid three-tier hierarchy we had here. They could move to other states and go to any college, be businessman/ seek career advancement and create families in ways not even imaginable in Louisiana. As a proud Black man it created some internal tension at first but at this point I don’t blame them. I will say it does create a very fractured family tree though. I hope everyone can reconnect the dots like I was able to in college. The love I have for all of my family is immense and one day I will meet some of them to chronicle these stories for future generations. So if you know any Delpit’s, Baham’s or Heisser’s holla at me. Thank you for sharing this!
Mervin, thank you for taking the time to comment. I love the Louisiana perspective especially. You are right about the fractured family tree, I am determined to piece my family story back together. I'll keep my eye out for those last names. There's a FANTASTIC SW Creole Facebook group Im a part of, mods are amazing. You should look it up and join us!
Beautiful work! The story that you tell is exactly right. My mother who is 93 and still alive tells the same story. The bloodlines were strong. I see people all the time that I am related and do not know them. If I strike up a conversation, it never fails. They were beautiful people and they looked alike. Mother says that they were not allowed to ask questions regarding their ancestors. When their parents spoke of the past, the reverted to speaking French Creole which they would not allow there children to learn or speak.
Yes the French Creole comes up in later episodes! The children didn’t learn it so the adults could speak about family things in secret. Exactly like you said.
@ Belinda Brooks your comment sounds a lot like my Caribbean family. My paternal great-grandfather was French believed to be Huegenot, who travelled to Martinique then Trinidad. He married a black Caribbean woman. His children were never taught French in fact the elders only spoke the Patois (creole) so their children could not understand them. The French influence in Trinidad is still very strong although they never colonised the island and the British eventually captured and colonised. What a story.
@@nytn very true. This happened in the Caribbean islands influenced by the French. In Trinidad our elders spoke patois (pat'wah or broken French/African) which they only used to speak their personal business. Their children were not allowed to know it. It happened in my family. They were very Catholic and colorist. A part of our Afro French Caribbean history.
These people are my people we share same family make up buts is funny Black people recognize other black people no matter how light we know you are black and Indian
Shortly after my son was born, my aunt sent me some information about my mom’s dad. It came out he was French. Last year I did my 23 & Me because I was always curious about what I was, especially since my mom knew very little about her dad. After I got my results I looked up my grandfather’s name and came across a treasure chest of information! My great grandmother was creole (Spanish, French, Italian, British & African, First Nations descent) and my great grandfather was French from Louisiana. After finding out everything, it made stuff about me make so much sense! This whole thing has been the best decision I have ever made. The more you go on this journey, the greater sense of self you will have! Good luck girl!
My husband’s great grandmother also denied her Native American background as it was frowned upon to be Indian back in the day. It shows through in all her kids, grandkids and great grandkids! We are so proud of that bloodline!!
Im so glad that the family was able to find out who they were and reclaim that identity. Reclaiming our history is incredibly healing. I am still on that journey. Thank you for sharing :) :)
I’m Afro American and Vietnamese. I was adopted by loving white adopted parents. I’m fair complexion. I get mistaken for white or eurasian. I’m not trying to pass. I’m Afro Asian, or Blasian. I would never want to pass for white. I love my mix.
Being a New Orleans native I know this story all too well. I researched documents where my great grandmother was listed as white, then mulatto and finally negro. I'm sure they passed as white to have a better life as sad as it may be to hear back in those days. "Passe Blanc" is what we called it when I came up in New Orleans. To this day my family is still in the dark about our ancestors even after DNA test. My grandparents died with many of those secrets
Don’t give up! I know the DNA test actually was not helpful except for matching with relatives. I just was taught the term Passé Blanc this summer…. there are ways to find your ancestors- I’ll be talking about that soon. I hope you stay!
I encourage everyone to look at those old family records. It's definitely an interesting topic and interesting to find your roots. I found out that my step-grandfather, who was basically my main grandfather, lived as a white man for 30 years in New York then returned to being Black again. He married, had kids, and lived as a white doctor. He was able to do this as he completed medical school in Europe then returned "a new man". Eventually, his wife died, and he married a black woman and moved to California. He was just doing his thing. He did have a French mother from France, which I did not know at all. He never said! Also, he was not from Louisiana but Washington State. I did find many relatives moving on from Louisiana on my dad's side to pass, but this one floored me because I knew him, and he lived with my even more white-presenting grandmother my whole childhood. She would never fully pass, but she did do it a bit to go to whites-only clubs or shops or sit in front on public transport if she wanted. She never lied on the census or left her family. But I do understand why they did this sometimes. The world was very harsh then.
Alli, this was such a thoughtful reply. Im so thankful you took the time. The world was so harsh. People will always try to survive and protect their family and I dont think I can blame them for doing however they needed to
With all due respect, allicm, your post confuses me. How could you step-grandfather pass as a white person in one place and as a black one in another? I understand that the world was harsh then (it still is, sometimes) but, surely, anyone could tell what he was just by looking at him. How did your grandmother manage to survive as a white-presentng person?
@@nytn I answered earlier with a long post. But simpler response is. He did look white. My grandmother was just pale. He was a little tanner. He cut family ties it seems when he moved. I never met his white sons for example. I never heard of them until I looked them up. My mom said she knew about them though when I asked. Anyway, my grandmother was not alone. She had sisters, friends similar to her. Lived in a bit of middle class bubble. But I don’t know how hard it was. Probably not so easy. She seemed to stick out in her school photos for sure. My guess is both of them were about 20-25% African at most tbh. Several generations back that was less uncommon due to the one-drop rule.
Alot of people passed back in the day. Mostly for economic reasons. Sad to be in a place where you have to give up everything you know and love just to make a bit of progress. I'm glad no one that I know of passed in my family. I always say I'm lightly melanated but hella Black. I'd be sad if that would have been taken from me. It's a very important part of my identity.
I am so happy hearing stories of people who have a rock-solid identity. It's a strange thing to inherit for our family in a lot of ways. Thank you so much for watching episode 1 and sharing with me!
@@jcjc3914 I found out my dad wasn't my biological father when I took the DNA test. It's been almost 4 years now and I think I've come to terms with it finally. Both of my parents are gone so I couldn't ask them any questions and I don't have any matches that are close enough for me to know who my biological father is with absolute certainty. I have a pretty good idea though but he has also passed on many years ago. I was just glad I was still Black lol. That would have devastated me even more cause it is my identity. My daddy was the one who raised me. Loved me. Gave me my name.
We need more and more stories like yours. Not just for you but for the sake of humanity. Too many important stories like yours fall into oblivion. Amazing story sis
I feel very humbled by this comment and I appreciate you taking the time to say what you did--I didn't know I had so many kindred spirits in the world!🥰
@@nytn you really do have. I come from a colonial family but also sort of remixed several times. My mum always brought me up to be proud of my mixed heritage which is South Asian and English, but with other European mixes from the past too. She herself though culturally white was never accepted as white here in Britain. It is not easy to be mixed as both black/brown people and white people have a nose for it. I once met a ŵoman who was mixed and identified as black and who to me was exactly that, she looked at me and my child and said well, you two are different, and then burst out I know what it is, you are mixed! I was so happy as she gave us both a hug and it felt like instant acceptance, it was sweet relief! One of the hardest things of all has been listening to white people who presume that is what I am now I am old and have white hair, telling me what they think of POC no matter what their origin. It really makes my toes curl ! Funnily enough in South Asia where my was from I was always instantly accepted and always felt at home. Personally I never use the words race or or inter racial, bi racial etc, first because we are all human and not really different at all we all started brown skinned anyway, but also because it fixes people into a hierarchy based up son skin. I prefer mixed heritage, it takes in the very many variations around the world. I can see from your account already that the background of people from Louise/Lola’s part of America is altogether more complex than just a binary colour distinction. There’s a lot of us out there with incredible family histories forged by historical events neither we nor our ancestors had much control over, these secrets were mostly kept not out of shame but out of a sense of protection for the next generations. In my case the real names of women of colour are often omitted to meet the social needs of the times. Wear your history with pride, maybe one day our great grandchildren and their children will be able to openly claim and find interesting their mixed heritage, wouldn’t that be marvellous!
This is wonderful to share this history which usually by the time it's recognised is so far forgotten we can't find our roots. My great-grandmother was Métis and people primary said she was Québécoise, which she always was quick to agree with. It wasn't until she passed that my grandmother and I got to sit down and go through her family photos and records that had been hidden away for decades and voilà, we found out the truth. Her father was given a French surname by his adoptive father, but looking by him he would never have passed. My great-grandmother was the only one out of her siblings that looked fair enough and thus was able to afford more social mobility in Canada and the US at the time by just being considered either French Canadian or from 'some southern european ethnicity'. You understand why they did it, but at the same time you wish you could've had the opportunity to really know them and the rest of your family. That's the true evil of assimilation for me, the erasure.
I love how you phrased this---"you understand why they did it, but at the same time you wish you could've had the opportunity to really know them and the rest of your family". Thats it for me entirely. I am so glad you found the channel.
Glad that the family are ready to know their heritage. My poor mum born of a unknown white dad and African mother in the 40's tried to pass for pure African. She looked different from her 11 siblings. She met my dad who was of the same exact scenario. We are biracial and our cousins too. Our kids are 3rd generation biracial. We have ended up being friends with other biracial people here in Kenya. We have a group where we catch up and get together. Our parents had a difficult childhood, you can imagine it was taboo to even ask why you looked different. These were children born of white colonial fathers who did not want to be found out by their family. Our grandmother's on the other hand got married with their mixed race babies who deemed as children of shame, ugly looking and all. They were not black enough. Today we are proud of who we are. We consider ourselves "people of a small tribe"
In fact you are people of a big tribe worldwide. Everywhere that happened, now i think we can say we are millions and millions from mixed races in this particular situation. But i agree some places its different based on the unique history of countries and cultural views. Like where i live we are certainly all mixed and its not a big deal, we embrace it. When in the caribeans there is racism against creoles with fair skin, called traitors etc even if they are descendants and have nothing to do with past events.
Lola's story is great! I can resonate with it because my moms side of the family was/is biracial as well as multigenerational mixed. Her father's cousins packed up and moved up North and started living a life as "passing". Him and my aunt both chose to stay and be who they were and of course he married my grandmother. My mom probably found this side of the family about 10+ years ago. Some were willing to meet her and some not so much. I am thankful to know about my heritage and the more and more I find channels like yours I become more and more intrigued by what I am learning. After knowing more about my history and seeing the results of my DNA; I now know why I look the way I do and where I am from. I am very proud to be multigenerational and I cannot wait to visit the places of my roots! Great Channel! Thank you for sharing your beautiful story! Looking forward to watching more now that I have subscribed. Blessings! 🥰
So many people from Louisiana did this via the great migration to California, Chicago and Detroit. Still today many grandchildren and great grandchildren don’t know they are black. First you have to fully understand the deep implications of slavery and how free people of color bought their darker skinned brothers, sisters and others out of slavery and took them to the North. They became responsible for taking care of their siblings and relatives financially because they could pass. There’s so much more to this. The real stories should be told.
This made me cry, not even kidding. The idea of all of these people not knowing who they are....the need to escape if at all possible. I hope you enjoy the other episodes, you might especially like episode 3 when I went to Louisiana to find out why Lola was afraid to be a person of color. Speaks of what you just said. Thank you so much for your comment, Im going to sit with it awhile. Here is episode 3 ua-cam.com/video/bLxaTBhCu_Y/v-deo.html
It’s so sad that Lola felt that she had to lie about her race, even in racially diverse New York in order to make a better life for herself and her family. She knew that skin color played a vital role in one’s health, wealth, success, and quality of life, especially in the past.
I don’t know how I came to this video, but I watched it with my mouth wide open, because it’s so similar to my grandmother’s story. She was of mixed decent and very passable for white. Irish, German, Native American and black. Her name was Louise , and also from Long Island. And also someone who did not talk about her past. Thank you for this.
Hi, born and raised in SW Louisiana. Warms my heart to hear you’ve found out so much about your family history. We get so many descendants coming through to find out more. Our culture is slowly re-emerging from all the interest. The elders call this passé blanc where I’m from. Growing up I learned as much as I could from them which was difficult with the language barrier.
Your comment gave me goosebumps! So many people ARE reconnecting to their roots. I hope it changes our nation for the better. I hope you stay on the channel with me! I’m going to start a deep dive into our ancestors
@@nytn how is is going to change racism against black people ? Yr GGmother passed for white and all of her descendants are now white and experience white privilege. Now, what actions do yr and yr family think they could do to go against racism?
@@hailie_Selassie This channel, for one. Digging into my family's history and telling my children and the world. You might be interested in this video I did on my enslaved 5th great grandfather and his daughter : ua-cam.com/video/uAxyz0q0A4s/v-deo.html
Thank you for this comment--made me think. It wasn’t mentioned in these episodes but Lola’s fathers line comes from slaves. Her mother side was native. I may do an episode on that later. I think African Americans in the south went through so much- I can only speak for myself but I’m not totally sure how to fold in that identity when I was shielded from so much. And I doubt most people would think we were part Black. This is something I’m still trying to balance- honoring our ancestors without claiming a bunch of things that don’t really belong to me.
@@nytn Hello May I add that on many more occasions than truly apply, BLACK Americans have claimed Native ancestry when in fact it wasn't true. The admixture oftentimes was someone white. .i e.. French, Spanish or Jewish. I'm a Black American who knows our history very very well. I wish you the best and be braced for the truth.
@@jaiyabyrd4177 The racial mixture within the Creole community in Louisiana often includes Native American. Each family of course would have their own unique mix. DNA tests are an option to reveal hidden family history.
My great grandmother was also mulatto. She was born and raised in Pa. I discovered a whole new family as a result of my genealogy research. When my grandmother got married she moved to Ohio and began her new life as a woman of color who was passing as white. She did what she felt would make her life easier.
Pam, I am so glad you found the channel. I love hearing stories that are similar to our family. I hope you check out the other videos and stay around! :)
My great grandmother was half white and black. My great grandfather was Black, Native American and white. They had 5 children together. They lived on the family farm with acres . She left him said life was too hard. Married a white man up north passed as white and they had 7 children together. That did a number on my grandma and her siblings. They was so fair they could pass as well. Hair silky like Indians. Had African American features nose or lips. But they quickly denied they was remotely white because of their mother. I grew up asking my mother why is your mother white and you’re black?? My mother was light skin African American. But the 5yr old in me couldn’t grasp. But she loved all us. She had 11 children married at 14yrs of age. Had children from every color of the rainbow . But the darkest ones were so beautiful. Because I could see the Native American in them. I remember my cousins visiting asking why aren’t you light like your mother??? I was brown skin like my father. But my mother taught my brother and I that our skin tone was beautiful. So we didn’t have problems in that area. She instilled many great things in us. She would be livid . If she knew I shared this with social media. I’m also from Louisiana. So I have all that in my bloodline. Louisiana is a melting pot like Gumbo. Man I miss home a lot these days. I have white family members their name is Osborne. I’m sure they’re are aware of it now. But they wouldn’t dare disclose this information now. Racism is still rampant in Louisiana. So I can understand why grandma was upset. You left your children. Got divorced the husband and children. And started another family. It had to hurt. From my understanding from my mother her grandmother look completely white with red hair. She did comeback to visit her 1st of children. But her children with her white husband never knew she was passing. He thought she just was visiting sisters and other family members. I guess for her it was self preservation huh?? ? And on my dad side they was owned by Irish slave masters. It’s amazing what you find out when you research.
Aunt Maggie look just like my grandmother. Except she had straight silky brown hair like an Indian. High cheekbones as well. I use to hate them . But I love them with my full lips. It’s funny how other’s insecurities can make question yourself. Thx for sharing
Wow, what a sad beginning for your grandmother. Do you know what happened to your great-grandfather after his wife left, and your great aunts/uncles (your grandmother's four siblings)?
This made me laugh, I NEVER would have thought Aunt Maggie was anything but Irish until now as an adult looking back and....yah. I see it. So glad for all the discussion you have brought!
@@nytn I wish I could send you a picture. It’s so uncanny. But I love it. And you’re brave. I pray that I didn’t sound like I was being mean. With social media and texts it’s hard to guage a person.🥰🥰🥰
@@FourSeasons04 My great grandfather never remarried. He raised his children until they left and married. He worked on the family farm until his death. My Aunts/Uncles never married a white person. They did the opposite. I think they was jaded given the family circumstances. But I’m glad she is accepting of Shae happened in that era.
My friend who's white did an ancestry test and she found out she had several family members pass for white she was so excited to find out she had African blood in her she told me now we really got a lot in common 😂😂😂😂. This happens so much I had family members who passed as white or italian I understand why I think it's sad people had to hide who they where but it is what is.
You mean tried to pass as Southern Italian. Specifically southern because we are the ones with brown Mediterranean features. Or as northern Italians/ Northern Europeans call us terrone. 🙄THE CULTURA LATINA, THE LATIN PEOPLE, THE LATINO (Latini) TRIBES, THE LATIN ETHNICITY ALL COME FROM ITALY! LATINO IS THE SOLE IDENTITY OF SOUTHERN EUROPEAN LATIN MEDITERRANEAN DIASPORA. Latin europe was Latinized by ROME ITALY hence how Latina italy got the name Latina. & HISPANIC (Hispania) is literally the Latin language MEANING SPAIN NOT the NATIVE AMERICANS they Colonized. Latin America got its name SOLELY and ONLY to mean the part of the Americas CONQUERED by LATIN EUROPE and that is all it will EVER MEAN. Latin ORIGIN, HISTORY& people are NON INTERCHANGEABLE. STOP THE CULTURAL THEFT OF MY PEOPLE& OUR ANCESTRY. BRAINWASHED AMERICAN/ MOSTLY NORTH AMERICAN CULTURAL APPROPRIATION & CULTURAL THEFT FOR "PROFIT AND GAIN" WILL NEVER BE LATINO. CULTURAL APPROPRIATION EXIST BECAUSE THOSE LIKE YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE AND WILL CONTINUE TO BENEFIT FROM THE CULTURAL THEFT TOWARDS US TRUE LATIN PEOPLE AND OUR HISTORICAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS! AND US TRUE LATINS ARE & HAVE ALWAYS BEEN MULTI GENETICALLY MIXED ETHNIC PEOPLE DUE TO OUR GENETIC CONTRIBUTORS FROM OUR MIDDLE EASTERN (ASIAN), NORTHERN AFRICAN, AND BALKAN GYPSIE DNA. THERE ARE NO "WHITE" LATINS. JUST MORE ASSIMILATION . SOUTH CENTRAL AMERICANS AND MEXICANS ARE NATIVE AMERICANS, MESTIZOS, CASTIZOS, PARDOS, ZAMBOS, AND PURE SUB SAHARAN AFRICANS. NOT LATINS, NOT LATIN BLOOD, THEREFORE NOT LATINO. IN SOUTH CENTRAL AMERICA AND MÉXICO THE ONLY PEOPLE CALLED LATINO AND HISPANIC ARE US SOUTHERN EUROPEANS OF LATIN MEDITERRANEAN ORIGIN. OBVIOUSLY THE SAME IN LATIN EUROPE. PUSHING AND CONTRIBUTING TO BRAINWASHED NORTH AMERICAN MISAPPROPRIATION OF FOREIGN TERMS SUCH AS LATIN/LATINO AS TRENDING PROPAGANDA FOR SOCIAL STATUS TO APPEAR MORE DESIRABLE DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE CONTINUING CONTRIBUTIONS OF CULTURAL THEFT. THE TERM LATINO DERIVES FROM THE TERM LATINI, THE LATINI WHERE THE VERY FIRST LATIN TRIBE TO EXIST FROM ITALY! LATINI IS PLURAL MEANING MORE THAN ONE LATINO! AND LATINO IS SINGULAR FOR LATINI MEANING ONE LATINO. THE SAME WITH LATINA AND LATINE. ALL TERMS CREATED BY THE TRUE LATIN PEOPLE OF ITALY. PUSHING BRAINWASHED AMERICAN MOSTLY NORTH AMERICAN CULTURAL RAPE AS A FASHION TREND FOR “PROFIT & GAIN” NEEDS TO BE EXPOSED. YOU CAN NOT BE PART OF AN ORIGIN, HISTORY AND ETHNICITY WHICH YOUR ANCESTORS FACTUALLY ARE NOT HISTORICALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR.
Similar thing happened to my buddy, he was told all his life he had some "Cherokee" ancestry, white guy with a couple vaguely ethnic looking features and curly hair. Come to find out after an ancestry test that he's almost 20% Sub-Saharan African descent, no trace of Native ancestry. Crazy thing was his family has some really problematic ideas about race, I was like somebody knew they were lying lol cuz ain't no way
The passing for white era is shrouded in mystery and your content helped shed light as to why. In my research…the term “mulatto” was the last designation used before families were simply considered “white” or “black”. On my paternal side my ancestry is American Indian from Kentucky…and my great grandfather was the last to be considered “mulatto”. The whole community knew him as “chief”. We also had other family members who “passed for white” but it was more like a business decision for the family b/c it meant better wages…specifically for those family members who didn’t own land. Your family’s story has reminded me that there’s so much to uncover from that era in time. Thank you for sharing!
❤️ Love this rich history so much! My grandfather, my moms dad, told me the story of how my moms mother was part White from her Dads side of her family back in Alexandria, Louisiana but he didn't explain why, he just said "they" don't want us kid's to know! My grandmother looked more like her Indian side too me! Thank you so much for this documentary. We need the children to know how important this was so it can't be repeated. Even for myself, I notice that some Whites don't like me and also some Black's don't feel comfortable with me but thanks to the history I was gifted, I understand and it never bothers me at all! We're all the same!
Sharon, I got goosebumps reading your comment-- it resonated SO deeply with me. I hope you will stay with me on the channel, so much to unpack, learn and talk about. Once I became a mom, this was of utmost importance. No more "not knowing".
"Not allowed to see how the sausage is made?" Love that! The fashions and hair styles in the pictures also gave me flashbacks as I was born in the mid 1950's. My paternal grandmother was about Lola's complexion if not a shade darker but her parents were a bit lighter. From what I was told growing up it's from having Cherokee in the blood.
That is really interesting. Lola was a lot lighter than her siblings- but it sounded like she was pretty careful about the sun. I don’t know how Lola’s mother identified but most of our native line comes from that side.
She was smart not to tell bc yt ppl are very racist and cruel esp back then. When they couldn't get in trouble for it. Lola was smart. She just wanted to live in Peace.
I think you are right about wanting to just live in peace--once she had kids, it seemed like her goal was to protect them the best she could. Thanks for watching:)
Yea it’s really easy to look through the eyes of the 21st century and blame her for “passing” but the truth is back in the day if you could pass, most people did just that, because it meant a completely better life for their family. Imagine how scared she always must have been tho of people finding out her secret. Or how scared she would’ve been every time she got pregnant wondering “what if this baby comes out with undeniable African looks?” It would be exhausting to live a lie like that.
Why are you surprised she did this? It was all about SURVIVAL. DISCRIMINATION is horrible, unless you have lived it, you wouldn’t know how painful it is. SHE DID THE RIGHT THING! Kudos to her! ❤😊🎉
Unambiguously Black people live this reality everyday in this country. Who doesn’t know about discrimination? Perhaps you, but not Black folks. Speak for yourself.
She did "her" thing for her reasons. Not necessarily the "right" thing! I am not surprised at this, I just chose to honor all those who stood their ground as Black even though they suffered for it. Indian indeed! None of the folks in this video actually told us that they found BLACK in their ancestry or who it was. One of them did allude to it though. Black must be a curse that I don't know about! lol
As a black personality who is very ambiguous, I think that is a terrible sentiment what about obviously black people? I’m sickened by these comments because u know how badly black folks are treated yet most of u don’t give a damn about us or our treatment this world is just a hell scape.
Lena Horne was light and Johnny Cash's first wife Vivian Liberto was also light. In fact, it was proven that Roseanne Cash, Johnny and Vivian's oldest daughter, is cousin to Angela Bassett. So it happened more often than people think.
A lot of blacks with multicultural heritage were reclassified after the 1930s. This happened to my maternal great grand parents they were listed as mulatto before the 1930s. After 1930 they were classified as just black. My great grandfather has Cherokee-Shawnee roots. His grandfather is buried on Shawnee territory in Oklahoma. We also have traced one of my maternal grandfathers back to Scotland. Many whites particularly in the South have a black ancestor in the family tree .
Many Native Americans or anyone not white were also classified as Black. There’s an actual law in Virginia They were called racial integrity laws. Many Black Americans are actually Native American or mixed African and Native American. There’s also some whites that paid to be classified as Native American to gain access to land grants. They are called the $5 Indians.
Being "passe blanc" in south Louisiana is still fairly common to this day. I met a woman from New Orleans in 2008 who talked with me at length about coming from a passe white family down there. They snub people with darker skin and try to only have children for white or light-skinned partners. This has gone on for centuries down there.
Yes, you're right. It is still practice in New Orleans and central Louisiana. . It's easier for a dark skin black man to marry a white woman than a Creole woman.
My grandmother is from Louisiana. A lot of people with identical stories like this look very similar. Especially from natchitoches, LA and DeSoto. Lots of French names like Eloise, Alfred, Effie, Florence, Frederick, Clementine, Mary, Helen, My grandma did not opt to pass but our family genes are ambiguous and you can’t tell from some of my family members are African American
That happened so much all over this country. My family are from the Appalachia’s and they’re very multi ethnic. My grandma and my great grandma both used to school me in how to whiten my skin just in case and I was born in the 70’s. They were genuinely afraid to share their heritage & just said we were either French or dark German when we were Native, African, European, and Middle Eastern mixed.
I am born and raised in central Louisiana. Not far from Natchitoches actually. It’s not uncommon for someone to say “you’ve got “Indian” in your blood/family”, when they suspect you are “mixed” with another race. It can literally be any other race. Good luck with your search for truth 💕
Back then it was rough being black down south. I was raised in Monroe, Louisiana. My mom's family is from there. Last name LeDent. We're black with French ancestry. Louisiana is so unique. The mixture of people and food. French, Spanish, Native American, African. Mostly due to the area being at the water which was a main means of traveling back then.
I don't recall any black people ever saying it was any easier to be black in the east or Midwest. All the same laws applied and so did segregation. It was not just in the south that is a massive misconception.
Oh my goodness. This sounds very familiar. My grandmother was from Ebarb, Louisiana. The Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb, which isn't that far from Campti. My grandmother came from a broken, poor area, not forthcoming with family history. Her racial description changed the in the 1940s census. Most of my family who may have been knowlegeable of our heritage on my father's side is deceased so I'm back tracking through records and learning mostly on my own. I'm so glad you put this documentary together.
Stacey--this is crazy, but Lola's mother's side looks to be connected to the Choctaw Apache tribe! I have not finished all the paperwork on it yet. I did speak to Dr Robert Caldwell (who is in the tribe) in this series, I think he is in Episode 3 and 4. Im so glad you found the channel! Let's stay connected :)
What tickles me is some people are so racist but if you have them shake their family tree a bit, they may discover who they hate, loved to create them and you wouldn't be here without them.
This is my story too in relationship to my mother's Italian side of the family! They tried saying we had native American blood in us. I had my DNA tested and realized there is no native blood. It is West African (Senegalese)! My family was pissed when I notified them of the results in 2018! I'm currently 51 years old and my family has kept this hush all my life!
Your great grandma was beautiful. I'm trying to trace my black ancestors right now - I wasn't even aware of it until I did a DNA test although it was a pleasant surprise. I just want to know who I am and where I came from too.
Wow what a story!! I hope you enjoy the other episodes and can find a place where you feel comfortable digging into your history at your own pace. Im so glad you are here :)
"Passing was a way for many Afro-Americans who had very light skin to escape Jim Crow segregation. I have had two great aunts who have passed to get better treatment in establishments and jobs. However, they came back to the Black community and after they realized the loneliness that came with doing such as thing. In addition, many Afro-Americans would also pass as other groups such as pretending to be Mexican (Mexicans were and are white.) in order to be treated better. This also came with lying about their origin as well. Some Afro-Americans would lie about being Native-Americans or having Native ancestry and some would lie about being from another group. They did this because of how dangerous it was to be themselves as a Black person in the Jim Crow South. All of the lynchings of Afro-Americans, the anti-Black racism etc. "Passing" for some Afro-Americans was a means of survival, but "passing" came at a cost. They had to walk away from friends, family, their community, and their culture in order to assume an identity that wasn't their own. In our community as Afro-Americans passing was frowned upon (and rightfully so) and there were some light-skin Black people who refused to pass and didn't understand why any Black person would do such a thing. Bottom being Black in this society has been hard and not easy and so kind of see why a Black person would try to make their lives easier, but at what cost? Is gaining privileges into whiteness worth walking away from your Black family members, your culture, and community?
I’m a black woman in my 50’s and there was so many emotions and thoughts I experienced. Our ancestors passed for many reasons; -to do better for family or themselves -to get away from the hardship - some because they were taught and made to feel less than or not at all human beings as a black person. I understand those that feel it was wrong to pass and those that felt it was their way out. The fact is there was those who could not do this and those that wouldn’t even if they could because they wouldn’t dare leave their family behind. I also believe in either situation the darker skin felt hurt from all directions, (just saying lighter skin had an opportunity darker skin didn’t have whether it was taken or not) like the color of their skin, their humanity, and a whole system that painted them in such a damning treacherous light that all ran from the beauty of beautiful beings. No one upping here… just my thought that it is nuanced.
I am so glad for this comment. I just saw it come through. This is the beginning of my journey, and I have so much to find out. I did get a chance to find and connect with my black cousins. They will be coming on here! Whatever the reason for passing, I am so grateful to be reconnecting with our family. It is a gift!
It definitely had ripple effects. There was a lot of...lying about things. The age thing was one, there were others. It kind of created an environment where the truth was...relative. And that's really hard. Thank you so much for watching and sharing on here.
Learning the truth about ethnicity and so-called race has helped many individuals overcome even deep-seated prejudices. They have come see that every person who has ever lived as part of the one human race with its wondrous variety. Sadly, this common labeling of people has only served to further divide the human family and perpetuate inordinate ethnic pride.
I'm Puerto Rican currently living in Louisiana. Louisiana had at some point in the history Spaniards and Spaniards or Spanish, Romanian, Italian, Portuguese and French are related by the Latins roots and they were one only race in the beginning (Roman, Etrusko, Iberic and some other ancestries, which composed the Roman Empire were dark haired and olive or tanned skin as they lived close to the Mediterranean Sea and the weather there is similar to Louisiana. I know because I was there before on Italy) and their language derivates from the Latin and many of them were olive or tanned skin as many people in the south part of those countries descend from the Romans and Romans had that type of skin mostly. The other people feom those countries that are fair skin and light hair descend from Ireland, Germany and England and are not originally from there mostly except for the Basque Spanish people which have a little bit in common with French and Irish. Also Canarian Spanish have mostly light hair and fair skin but they descend from Berbers and they had those physical and language caracteristics as it is a race next to the Arameic Jewish. The Canary Islands are seven and their aboriginal population are the Guanches which are a type of Berber people who were very friendly. Spain and Portugal were invaded by Arabs (cousins of the Jewish) which before invaded North African countries with Berber population close to Spain so I understand Mrs. Perot was white.
I'm just mind blown! My husband has Iroquois blood and a lot of it. When I asked why he hasn't registered, I found out that nobody in his family was. They're from Texas.... Anyway, my mother in law said that her Grandfather, who was 100% Iroquois, was ashamed to admit to his Indian blood. They were so poor too and could have qualified for benefits because he was Indian. They said he'd never take a penny from the govt AND he refused to give anyone leverage to abuse him. These stories are just so sad to me! I wonder what he'd think now... its so different and people are proud of their heritage. I guess it was his generation who paved the way for us to be truly free though. Anyway... im loving your channel! Thank you for this!
Im pretty sure the Iroquois have some serious BQ rules as well, which brings up a WHOLE other issue.... But yes, I wonder the same thing, exactly- What would they think now? Times arent perfect, but people are proud and talking about who they are. Something so foreign to many of us. I am so glad you are here, hope we can talk more !
I was born in Louisiana, my father was dark complected with dark curly hair, a very handsome man, my mother a very light complected redhead, I am light complected like my mother but have my dad’s curly hair ( the first hairdresser that could do anything with it was black) I am 65 years old and have wondered all my adult life what my actual heritage is, I seriously think I may do one of the DNA test’s…
My aunt started doing genealogy on our family & it’s amazing to find out things that weren’t discussed & secrets our grandparents took to their graves😞
She was just passing like so many did in that time. But many didn’t. I’m so happy that mines didn’t and stayed connected to their families. This is so interesting seeing it from the opposite perspective. Awesome job!!!
There are so many beautiful mixed race people in Louisiana. We should all be able to embrace every part our heritage freely and proudly. This gives our country so much depth and is one of things that makes us great.
I think we are related. And we didn't know that my Grandmother wasn't just French and Native American. They left Campti for Monroe. My Great-grandmother wouldn't let anyone talk about anything from past. It took DNA tests and my niece doing the genealogy. They went to segregated schools being black, white, and Indian. We have Perot's in our family tree but right now I can't tell you how far back. It's nice to know our family wasn't the only one whose family was "passed" as white from Campti, which apparently is known for being mixed.
Come find me on Facebook! Im no genealogist but I do share a lot of stuff I've come across for the family. You might really like seeing episode 3 of this series.ua-cam.com/video/bLxaTBhCu_Y/v-deo.html
It’s unfortunate that we’re not close enough while our elders are around to learn these things by chatting instead of interviewing them. But I’m happy for this woman who knows the importance of ancestral pov.
Very interesting. This is the first mention I have seen of Campti, LA where my children's relatives are from. When you research the history of the town, they really did have a lot of Native American people in the region, so perhaps their family has both types of heritage. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for commenting and watching! Yes Lola’s moms family was native and Lola’s dads side was African. The paper trail confirmed the DNA communities we got- I’ll share those soon. Campti’s history is so vibrant
I am Black and my Great grandad was very fair skin with green eyes the sweetest man you could have known, he had a hard time in the Black community because of his fair skin so he married a very dark skinned women to darken his kids so they wouldn't be treated badly but her also really loved her. My grandad was sad because he said I am just as Black as any other Black person it was important for him to be proud of his heritage no matter what because he said we are good people in a bad world that hate us because demons know who we are tribe of Judah! God in Heaven is very important in my family!
I guess the shame is still there because the family stumbled around the word African American numerous times, but felt comfortable saying French, Indian and even Spanish, BUT from Spain. So much has changed but a lot remains the same.
Thank you for that comment, I think for me personally- since I’m obviously white -claiming to be part African…almost feels dishonest. Like there is so much history and pain wrapped up in the AA experience, I don’t want to be flippant
my parents are from New Orleans, we consider ourselves Creole, culturally. We always thought we were Black, French, and Indian. DNA shows we are actually European, West African with not a drop of Native dna. genealogy is fascinating
@@nytn none, the only hits I get in N America is with the Louisiana Creole community. my African dna is 32% total from Africa's West Coast- Nigeria, Benin/Togo, Senegal, Ghana, Bantu Tribes.
I'm at 6:55 and I must say this before I learn anything more. I REALLY LIKE LOLA. Just from her fudging her birthdate to be younger and keeping her past to her past she truly was an individual before any member of a group. What a great spirit I hope I get to meet her in paradise.
Exactly remember how long this planet is , that's how long your family has struggled to survive ,so that you could be here and have life and joy and continue raising your family.
I'm from Alexandria, La and a lot of African Americans from Natchitoches passed for white. These were the Cane River Creoles. Read the book Cane River and tells the story of families passing.
This happens everywhere and in somecases even now. My mother is Zimbabwean she was born in what was formally know as Rhodisia. When she got pregnant with my oldest brother my dad being white. Was such a huge scandal. Later they got married had more kids etc. When my parents divorced when I was 10 my mother remarried a Dutch man. My father is also Dutch. We moved back to the Netherlands when I was 13. I remember my mom not wanting me to sit out in the sun. She insisted I would walk under an umbrella make sure I had lots of sunscrean all the time. She would get mad when I always mentioned my nationality being half Dutch half Zimbabwean. She always initiated I just said Dutch. I am in no way white passing. My mother grew up learning that the lighter skinned you where the better opportunities you got. So that's how she tried to raise us. It never worked I was too proud of the fact I am of both world's. It has taken my mom many years to accept to be proud and not ashamed of who She is. I am 41 so this really wasn't too long ago
@@livingfinance true. Good question. If you have a look into the history of the coloured laws in Rhodesia at that you'll see the answers there, even then there were some different types, difference was a large amount in British territories chose to identify with their African families which meant isolation from white, Indian, Arab etc families and vice versa. It was in these settings where the differences were noticeably pronounced, but no unusual as Zim pre-colonial historical texts and oral stories speak of mixed children in the tribes.
I was so surprised to find that out. Up in NY I thought my family was just really really fringe about things…I had no idea this was a community experience
I love her page boy haircut picture!!! Great cheekbones and a lot behind those eyes. Given the time, I understand why she didnt want to bring it up. However, I do think people need to know where they came from. I did my own DNA and was very excited to find how many ethnicities are in my family. It also allowed me to know where my Asian shaped eyes came from my Korean/Japanese blood.
My mother's sister passed for white, she was born in Louisa, VA, she died approximately 6 yrs ago! My mom could have done same, but didn't ! A lot of people back then did this sort of thing! I am not surprised!
This was fascinating. I think I read a little about the research because I was living in the same area. I hoped I'd hear more. I have mixed ancestry that was hidden too. It's important to know the diverse people who contributed to and made part of American society. Thank you for sharing the history and I look forward to learning more.
I’m black white and Hispanic people don’t know what I am sometimes 😂my father is black and my mother is white and Hispanic 🫶🏽I love all my races that I am and I claim them all💯💞
Thank you for these videos. The history and telling it helps many to understand and learn from the past so God willing no one would go through this again. Your stories give me insight so I can more understand, empathy to feel compassion for others and love and respect for those who walked a different journey than mine. From south Louisiana. The only thing I knew of in my history from a ways back is that you could not speak in French in schools or you would get punished . My great great aunt ( La lee as we called her. Not sure of spelling) only spoke French and she lived to be 102
Marguerite, this comment and your other one were so beautiful and insightful. I teared up a little but at both of them. I didnt know French was not allowed to be spoken-- Lola apparently grew up speaking Creole/Cajun French but never told any of us and never taught my family. What you said is one of the reasons I decided to share our family's ongoing journey---so we can maybe not judge each other so quickly. Appreciate you, and I hope you will stay on the channel for awhile!
Absolutely. My first and only granddaughter is 6 and has Native American in her. Let me tell you she’s the most beautiful little girl and I’m so proud of her heritage and the good looks and absolutely beautiful long thick hair she has.
Thank you for sharing your amazing journey! I have gone though some of the same things researching my roots.. Many secrets and many lies in my family... Both of my grandparents migrated from Louisiana to Wisconsin in the 1920's.
Appalachian "melungeons" also known as Appalachian Creoles, also have had the same issues with "passing" because for the most part, they are tri-racial. In a family, with the same two parents, the children are often different shades/colors, some being dark like Subcontinent Indians (from India) and some being blond or redheaded, fair-skinned with freckles. I suppose it's kind of like an apple. You can plant the seeds of an apple, but you will not wind up with an apple like the one you ate. The tree will produce apples, yes, but not with a variant DNA. Fascinating to me!
I too have family who choose the path of passing. When that path is chosen the family members who pass has to place themselves into exile from all family connections and documents. Name changes/ or switching DOB and location information on census reports… so research becomes challenging. There is a saying anyone who has roots from Louisiana they are all related.
You are so right, Yvonne! The research was so hard because all the facts had been changed around...but we are getting there...and finding out we are related to most of Louisiana :)
I'm from the city Campti/Natchitoches and I know this family. My great aunt did the same thing many many years ago and moved to California. About 5 yrs ago we finally got a chance to meet her grandchildren. This is very common for fair skinned black Americans from the southern states. Unfortunately my aunt passed away before we could meet her. Well at least we have our cousins now and we love them dearly. Family is love no matter what.
Our family is the same. We have found documentation of my GGGgrandmother buying her 2 sons out of slavery in Natchitoches LA in 1854. Then we find them in Waco TX in 1870 under a different name (Flores). Before the purchase paperwork was found we were always told it wasn't really Flores but Lafleur (french canadian). We did a DNA test. It seems we have Nigerian somewhere. No french. You never know. People do what they have to to survive. Oh and no Spanish or Indian.
Lisa, this is an amazing story. Especially the very "obvious" hispanic last name. I think it makes a good point that we just can't make assumptions about people! If you end up finding the last name LaCour pop up...let me know, that's my family!
My Italian grandparents changed there name and identity when immigrating to Canada. It was easier to find work,and live in the community if you had an English name.
I had 3 great grandmothers that could have passed for white and didn’t attempt it. They married darker skinned black men and continued the blood line as African American. We still had characteristics of white and Indian in our lineage. We all had straight hair, high cheek bones, olive skinned toes. I think it’s wonderful that this family is learning about their grandmother, great grandmother. She was very beautiful.
This was so powerful. The stories I could tell you sis, of families I know where a grandparent admitted on their deathbed to being Indigenous/Native, after a lifetime of denial. The pressure still exists in shadows today, but back then, identity and clamming up was a whole other world of internal stress and self-repression.
I'm pretty sure my grandmother's family tried to pass as white. They were living in Sicily during the Nazi invasion. My grandma was pale but had African features. She was despised by my grandpa's mother. (She was called an ugly dog) My grandmother's best friend was black but she was terrified at the thought of her grandchildren getting into interracial relationships. She kept talking about how badly the children would be treated. She clearly had trama and ptsd by how she was treated by the nazis.
I am African American and my paternal great grandmother was biracial (blk/white). She looked like a white woman, fair skin, blue eyes, straight hair and spoke like a southern black woman. Born in 1903, she could have easily passed as a white woman. I’m so proud she did not and instead graduated from a historically black college, Grambling University in the 1920s. She passed away at 103 yrs old.
My grandmother was bi racial, too half black/ half Irish and was born in NC
That’s a incredible story, I’m glad she embraced her whole identity. I’m curious though in those days in which inter-racial relations was illegal did she ever talk about the story of her parents coming together?
@feliciafriend3954 Her whole identity??? That woman was most likely a Quadroon( 1/4 black) to pass as fully White. She would have fit in more at a White University than Black if she spoke proper English than slave or bad English; you know she stood out among the Black students!
You mean pass as 100% white. DNA don't lie. At best she was Mixed Race!
My grandmother is the same.. Blackfoot/black/Jewish… and completely embraced being a black woman!!🙏🏼❤️🙌
My mother is from Louisiana and now deceased but she always told me some of our relatives and family friends passed for white back in the 20s, 30s, and 40s in order to get jobs and live better lives and avoid racism. My mother was very fair skinned as were some of her siblings. I am proud to say my mother never denied being a black woman despite the racism she endured during that time. She was always true to herself!!
What a heartbreaking time in our history. Not that it's perfect now... and I think spending more time on that era would help us all so much. Im happy for you that you were able to have your heritage passed down to you-- a gift.
So good to read that she never denied who she was despite the racism she endured. Wonderful.❤
Beautifull to Heard it.
Good thank goodness...
people in Louisiana are gorgeous!
My GrandDad didn't deliberately pass for white, but he was sometimes mistaken for white. There was a little hotel in Texas where GrandDad stayed whenever he passed through there (circa 1939). There were no issues until on one trip, he brought my Dad with him. My Dad was brown-skinned and obviously African-American. The proprietor of the hotel asked GrandDad "Who's this you got with you?" GrandDad said "This is my younger boy" and gave him my Dad's name. The hotel owner was mortified. He told my GrandDad "Reverend, I had no idea. I can't let you stay in my hotel, the Klan would burn it down. But I'll tell you what, you can stay in the guest room of my house." So my father and grandfather did exactly that, they stayed in his guest room that night and moved on the next morning. GrandDad never stopped at that hotel again.
This made me so sad. I think you would enjoy watching episode 3 about my Louisiana family's experience. It was really hard to edit that video, I was so upset. Such a similar story. Episode 3: ua-cam.com/video/bLxaTBhCu_Y/v-deo.html
Just look how darker skinned Black women treat lighter-skinned Mixed-race women especially simply because they are not really Black, AND because they received preferential treatment by Black men and in society in general.
Their day for RE-unification is in progress.
They deserve it.
@@BORN-to-Run I could easily generalize my experiences and say ALL light-skin mixed race females have treated me horribly including my own mother, but my grandmother who was also a light skin Creole woman was the most wonderful human to ever live. Stop generalizing billions of dark skin Black ladies. You are apart of the problem.
I'm from south Louisiana, and know many Creole people who look like, and can pass for white. There are pockets of Creoles all over Louisiana, especially in Natchitoches. Has any ever heard of the Cane River Creoles ? It's funny that none of them mentioned it. My grandmother on both sides of my family were Mullatto. There is lots of mixture in Louisiana. My family never thought it was anything strange.
Smh,..If you are "mistaken" for White,...Its because you ARE White or you are predominantly White, at the very least.
People are soo dim !!
This is why my mom used to tell white people you are not as white as you think you are, I always thought that was a strange saying but now I truly understand. Because of racism has caused Black people so much in terms of the loss of family connections and generational hurt that when they find out the truth it is devastating sometimes so much so that white people do not want to be black they deny that part is who they are and it’s sad because do not live in their authentic life.
Thank you for watching sharing that--it's a good point. I also think it's a strange idea....if you are raised white and you look white and you're mostly white....but your recent family members were not white....something Im thinking about for a future video. I appreciate you taking the time to comment that.
A white person can't be black,so what you said did not make any sense, even if they have 29 percent of black,they are still not black,
My gmas use to say this all the time too.
I know I am.
Having SOME West A. Admix does NOT mean you are not “White”.
It wasn’t about being ashamed, more about survival. It’s difficult to judge the past.
most cases it's both!
@@montprice6722 No it’s not both because if blacks were treated equally they would not have passed.
@@BlackSheep-83 thats so sad , I grew up in a white girl in a white neighbourhood and I always admired dark brown eyes and rich dark black / brown hair I wished I had dark hair and all my life I’ve dyed my hair very dark I , My Daughter married a Burmese boy and now have a gorgeous dark haired dark boy and he’s the apple of my eye , @Dream Lover there are so many people like me who love dark beauty ❤
My great grandmother was so light that she could’ve passed for yt but chose not to . She went to Fort Valley and was one of the 1st Black teachers n Atlanta. I’m saying this to say that it was a choice
Exactly
I had distant relatives during slavery who were freed, pass for white and bought their still enslaved darker skinned relatives. It was a very interesting story my aunt told us about. People did what they had to do, to survive. I also have relatives that could pass for white, but never did. They would tell me things that white people would say about black people, thinking they were white too. And when they would tell them that they were black, they wouldn't believe them.
Katrina- wow! My family has the same story about relatives buying enslaved relatives. I just located all of the information recently. Blew me away. I plan to share it on here soon
Awesome!! .Good for them!!!👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
My great aunt told me similar stories. She could pass. You'd never know. She worked as a maid in many "wealthy" homes. She told me the things that were told to her were sickening. It was hard for her to look some of these people in the eye. She told that she always made it a point to tell them her race when it was her last day. She said the look on their faces was absolutely priceless. One of them apologized to her!
Could you go into more detail about your p adding relatives buying your darker Skinner relatives? It's interesting. I want to know more! How did they try them? Why did they buy them?
@@Niccole-oq8wo wow!
This happened in our family, my great grandmother was born on a reservation in grande ronde Oregon, left at an early age, didn’t tell anyone about her Native American heritage and because of how light her skin was( even though she was 100% blood quantum), she could pass as Caucasian. My grandmother’s sisters and brothers did a genealogy and we found out we were Native American and belonged to the confederated tribes of grande ronde, and were kalapuyan , this was in 1998, after her passing. Our family wrote a book to chronicle our ancestors all the way back to the the 1600’s, so that we will always have our history and we continue to add to it.
Korrina- what a beautiful way to honor her story! You are a kindred for sure haha. How did you figure out the tribe? Just by her brith records?
This is the story of a lot of Creole people, including mine. You have to imagine how hard it had to have been to survive Jim Crow.
Toya-- YES. Exactly. Those were incredibly hard and evil times. Doesnt mean things are perfect now...but wow...the reality of Jim Crow
My family lived it. I don't have to imagine it. Thank God we made it through the worst time, Some people are trying to turn back the hands of time. I keep informed on what's on the horizon, because God is still in control.
DAMN DENISE- MARRY ME- HEHE YOUR INSIGHT MOVES ME -TOTHE AIRPORT- HAHA
My grandfather lived it. Born in Oklahoma in a Mexican family.
I saw the actual sign in the Smithsonian in DC [ no blacks, no dogs, and no Mexicans.]
My great grandma was 100% American Indian and my grandmother would NEVER say it because it was looked down upon in West Virginia at that time. So I can identify with having my family's ethnicity covered up or left out. Now they are both gone..but I ( and my kids) tan, but do not freckle or burn and we all have bright blue eyes. I've just started to look into DNA testing ( for my boys). It's so sad these women and families ( mine included) felt that they had to hide this😢❤
I am a white woman and my brother and I got dna tests and uncovered a small amount of African descent. The test gave us a timeline for the ancestor that meant someone way back when must have passed as white at least publicly. Our family also had an old tale of having Native American blood way back and I have seen others with that tale who had the same hidden African ancestor. I suppose that was a safer claim that could give reason for certain physical traits and I suspect many people who have that Native American ancestor claim might find an African ancestor if they do a DNA test. I don't at all claim to be black--I am a very pale redhead--but I think it points to an American history tale that hasn't been taught to us correctly.
Heather, I am so glad you found the channel! You are right, there is an American history that we re missing-- and its OUR history. The history of many many descendants of people of color whose history has been lost for too long. I hope you stay around!
Heather your grandma L is the half sister of my grandma A. Our great grandma AW came from Louisiana. Our great great grandma L shares the same first name of your grandma L. She passed away in Albany, Ca. in the late 1930s without ever knowing her grandchildren nor they about her. On the Death Certificate she's listed mulatto. I'm in Sac area you have my name.
So many people claim Indian heritage only to find an African in their past instead.
@@grantbos5967 yeah, no idea what you're talking about. You have the wrong person.
@@drpreatorius I think that is really fascinating. Did you see my DNA communities video? ua-cam.com/video/gamZ2iCTEU8/v-deo.html
Every black family has a story about a family member who tried to pass whether it was successful or unsuccessful. This is interesting. Sad that she felt she didn’t have a choice, but joyful because you are finding your roots in a safe space.
What a kind word, thank you. I feel that this journey is exactly what I was meant to do. Glad you are here!
Not Caribbean people lol. This is a uniquely American phenomenon, that’s why is so interesting because there are so many yt people with racialized ancestors that they don’t know about.
My Grandmother on my Mother's side passed. Although unintentional, it allowed her a means to provide better for her family. As others have previously mentioned, it meant survival in a hot, racially divided era.
Not true at all. As someone who comes from a long line of beautiful darkskinned people this is not my family’s story at all. Although very interesting, this is not every black families story.
The ones that did “pass” disappeared. We have a whole line that vanished but due to the phenotypes the other siblings had I’m sure that aunt probably live another life as a non black woman.
I'm Afro Cuban Afro Puerto Rican. This idea of passing, being ASHAMED of African heritage is strange to me. It's interesting that all the family keeps leaning on her being "Indian" when really the issue is her African heritage. From what you showed her census records listed her as "mulatto." That is a term I'm very familiar with because in Latin America that is what I'm called mulata, which mean African and European mixture not Indian. I'm really glad I am Latin America because with all of our problems, we embrace our African roots. We literally venerate our African ancestors in our religion, no matter how whyt our skin is, Brazilians, Cubans Puerto Ricans etc. lift up our African ancestors. Africa is the source of our music, foods, language, religions and beautiful sensual looks in every shade. America is an odd place, encouraging its people to deny the blood of the very people who gave all humans their humanity. I was raised in the Bronx but live in Rome now. I'm lucky to travel to Africa often, seeing the beautiful place that my ancestors came from. Watching your family members skirt around the word AFRICAN was odd from my perspective. I feel sorry for them it's like a self imposed prison, not accepting the richness of who you are because their country is built off of an illusion of whyt supremacy. Watching this as someone who comes from a culture blessed by an African identity, I am struck by the power of cultural hegemony. You can tell people a lie and after a while they will accept it as truth. Your people really believe Blackness is a source of shame wow 😳
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to reply. Some of her census records show her as Mexican because her mother's family came from the missions--I only showed one record, but she was mostly listed as Mulatto. I dont think anyone in my family is not accepting who we are...but honestly, we were raised white and look white now. Im not sure how much we really SHOULD be claiming. That's hard to figure out--claiming to be Black might do just as much damage in some ways. Im still wondering what to do about it.
Stop the cap. Twenty years ago so called afro-latinos were running around with "Me no black."
If blackness was so accepted in Latin America, "sube la raza" wouldn't be thing.
It is strange to me too the idea of passing, being ashamed of African heritage. Very odd.
@@nytn Well, you are white with some Native American ancestry.
@@rosahacketts1668 that is true. Lola's maternal line were natives that were converted in the mexican missions. But Im white
So many families did this. There are so many white black people/ creoles that stayed in Louisiana. They passed for better jobs to live better. It was hard in those days being black and a person of color. She is not the only one that did this. I understand why they all did it.
I am so surprised to see this as common as it is. Up in NY, we really had no idea---I always thought my family was weird about our lineage but chalked it up to "some families don't care". I look back at my family and the stories I DID hear, and now things make more sense. I wish I had known sooner.
@@nytn I bet it is a shock, I am proud of y'all for doing this. Y'all please write a book.I am from Louisiana and know your family very well.We were told why many went off and passed. Some of the ones that passed would go off and do well, but secretly help the darker cousins to do better in life. I even have some old pictures.You all have a lot of cousins in Natchitoches black, white, and creole. I descend from the Metoyer, Labaume, De La Baume family from Campti Some of your cousins have formed two different Indian tribes.
thank you for commenting and for your kind words! I’ve been asking family to write the book!
I have lots of Metoyer ancestors so we must be cousins. :) I know about the Indian tribes- but I’m not enrolled anywhere-still very much on the journey of figuring out who we are:)
@@nytn You are welcome. I am sure we are related. I will post some pics.
that would be amazing!
These stories are so common in the creole community, even so in my own family
That is bittersweet to hear. I’m glad to know the experience can be shared outside of our family to help give it context…but how heartbreaking for our families and so many others that this was their “normal. Thank you for sharing that and coming along on this journey!
@BrooklynBorn 83 this story really resonated with me, thank you for taking the time to comment. Is the "tragic mulatto" thing a reference to something I missed? Please fill me in! Also, I love what you said about identifying with the culture that nurtured you. I dont know if you saw episode 4 yet (just came out this morning) but it's basically....reflecting on how we all approach our identity differently, even in the same family. Im not sure how I would "identify" but I am proud now to know my heritage. And now my kids will know it too. Time to break the cycle.
@@nytn Another group of Creole people are the Cane River there in Louisiana.
@@nytn here in south Louisiana the word "mulatto" is like taboo, some accept it most don't. My Maw-Maw hated that word because she said it was everyone else's way of being disrespectful because they knew that you were of mixed lineage and could pass if you wanted to. Needless to say that's another reason why some families were divided because some felt as if the others thought they were better than them based upon their complexion. When actually they all just wanted to be comfortable in their own skin.
Yes it is...we were Chicago Creoles from Louisiana...they came up.north bc of racist attitudes but man I wish I grew up with both of my cultures Haitian Kreyol and Nola Creole
A lot of biracial and fair skinned Black folk “passed” as white because passing made their lives easier; especially during a time when being Black in America and anywhere else in the world was extremely difficult due to racism, classism, discrimination, and prejudices. As far as Ms. Lola not telling the truth about her age, it must be a Southern thing because my grandma made herself younger to; and she went by another name…lol. Thanks for sharing!❤
Most of these ppl were biracial and mixed race NOT fair skinned black ppl; there is a big difference. Allow ppl to be who and what they are.
@@missamerica2694 I was talking about “passing”. It doesn’t matter if they were biracial or light skinned, fair skinned Black folk. They were “passing”. Back then, White people considered anyone with even one drop of African blood ( 1/8th rule) Black, Colored, Negro, Mulatto; and you could look white as snow. They are some light skinned Black folk that look as if they could be White. I don’t know what you were trying fished out of my comment, but My comment cannot stop someone from being who they are nor am I.
thanks for clearing this up. I couldnt figure out what she had done. Thats aweful that she felt she had to do this and carry it with her even to the end.
@@chuckbeedle1983 Thank you for getting her all the way together. 🤣🤣🤣
Many of our grandparents from that time were born by midwives at home. Once they had to register for vital records the information can get distorted. Plus the clerks weren’t too concerned with accuracy. My aunt was supposed to be Karon and the nurse wrote Carol so that’s her name
My paternal grandmother is very fair skinned with a sandy blonde hair color. I remember her telling me that when she was a kid people told her should could pass for white if her hair wasn’t so nappy. I’ve seen pictures of her as a toddler with a press and curl and she said she had been getting her hair straightened since she was 2. I guess we got lucky that she never had a desire to pass and that negative comments about skin color was never a thing in my family. I think she mainly didn’t want to pass out of fear of getting caught. I know that I’ve heard a story about her aunt being murdered and I think they played a part in her decision too. I recently found out that my grand father was actually Native American. My grandmother will be 91 in January and I hate that my generation just doesn’t know enough about her or her deceased husband. For her birthday my aunts and uncles talked a lot about their upbringing traveling down south to Mobile, things that they didn’t keep tradition when my generation came around. I would like to get those stories from her before it’s too late. It’s a very strange world we live in and no one is 100% of anything.
Yes-- get those stories!! That is a gift to them, to you, and future generations. I regret so much not doing this sooner. And you are right----we are mostly all a mix and related more than we think
Please video tape her stories immediately b4 it's 2 late🙏🏽 life is short
@@spiveyporkchop7841😮
Some had to completely distance from family. If they passed away before getting back home then their offspring may never know their true race. I believe that is the circumstance of many Americans. Even very racist folk
Who blames her? This world operates on a caste system. Even people of color partake, even if they don't realize it. The Europeans have done a lot of harm to the entire world. I personally love melanated skin.
It’s not just the Europeans tho… Asian countries are the same way and have been way before any European influence came their way. Back in the old days if you had darker skin it meant you worked all day in the sun and were poor. The wealthy could stay out of the sun and thus lighter skin was seen as better, prettier and more desirable. It’s a world wide idea, mostly for that reason.
Facts.
@@augustusb3501 Lol idk if you’re joking or not, but history says otherwise.
💯
Why what's the big deal?
8th-Generation New Orleanian here and yes this has happened in many families in Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast (Many people don’t know that Mobile was actually the first major French settlement on the coast but they had a conflict local Native America tribes and a lot of people moved to New Orleans after that). Creole culture has always been very hush hush. Names stick out and people want to make sure you are not putting family through the mud. Speaking on passing is apart of this. Passing allowed people to move freely outside of the rigid three-tier hierarchy we had here. They could move to other states and go to any college, be businessman/ seek career advancement and create families in ways not even imaginable in Louisiana. As a proud Black man it created some internal tension at first but at this point I don’t blame them. I will say it does create a very fractured family tree though. I hope everyone can reconnect the dots like I was able to in college. The love I have for all of my family is immense and one day I will meet some of them to chronicle these stories for future generations. So if you know any Delpit’s, Baham’s or Heisser’s holla at me. Thank you for sharing this!
Mervin, thank you for taking the time to comment. I love the Louisiana perspective especially. You are right about the fractured family tree, I am determined to piece my family story back together. I'll keep my eye out for those last names. There's a FANTASTIC SW Creole Facebook group Im a part of, mods are amazing. You should look it up and join us!
Beautiful work! The story that you tell is exactly right. My mother who is 93 and still alive tells the same story. The bloodlines were strong. I see people all the time that I am related and do not know them. If I strike up a conversation, it never fails. They were beautiful people and they looked alike. Mother says that they were not allowed to ask questions regarding their ancestors. When their parents spoke of the past, the reverted to speaking French Creole which they would not allow there children to learn or speak.
Yes the French Creole comes up in later episodes! The children didn’t learn it so the adults could speak about family things in secret. Exactly like you said.
@ Belinda Brooks your comment sounds a lot like my Caribbean family. My paternal great-grandfather was French believed to be Huegenot, who travelled to Martinique then Trinidad. He married a black Caribbean woman. His children were never taught French in fact the elders only spoke the Patois (creole) so their children could not understand them. The French influence in Trinidad is still very strong although they never colonised the island and the British eventually captured and colonised. What a story.
@@nytn very true. This happened in the Caribbean islands influenced by the French. In Trinidad our elders spoke patois (pat'wah or broken French/African) which they only used to speak their personal business. Their children were not allowed to know it. It happened in my family. They were very Catholic and colorist. A part of our Afro French Caribbean history.
These people are my people we share same family make up buts is funny Black people recognize other black people no matter how light we know you are black and Indian
@@shawnjackson6242 Wow, for some reason this almost made me cry-- in a good way. Thanks for commenting and following the journey :)
Shortly after my son was born, my aunt sent me some information about my mom’s dad. It came out he was French. Last year I did my 23 & Me because I was always curious about what I was, especially since my mom knew very little about her dad. After I got my results I looked up my grandfather’s name and came across a treasure chest of information! My great grandmother was creole (Spanish, French, Italian, British & African, First Nations descent) and my great grandfather was French from Louisiana. After finding out everything, it made stuff about me make so much sense! This whole thing has been the best decision I have ever made.
The more you go on this journey, the greater sense of self you will have! Good luck girl!
My husband’s great grandmother also denied her Native American background as it was frowned upon to be Indian back in the day. It shows through in all her kids, grandkids and great grandkids! We are so proud of that bloodline!!
Im so glad that the family was able to find out who they were and reclaim that identity. Reclaiming our history is incredibly healing. I am still on that journey. Thank you for sharing :) :)
@@nytn With all due respect you look more Hispanic and indian.
@@dila4834 I keep hearing that! I feel more comfortable identifying that way because I thought it was more obvious
@@nytn You are a beautiful lady however you identify yourself.
I’m Afro American and Vietnamese. I was adopted by loving white adopted parents. I’m fair complexion. I get mistaken for white or eurasian. I’m not trying to pass. I’m Afro Asian, or Blasian. I would never want to pass for white. I love my mix.
I love seeing people knowing who they are! So beautiful. Glad you are here
That’s a very nice mix
U don't have to shug they did
You are creative as hell for making this a UA-cam channel dedicated to this 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
LOL well that is freaking awesome. Thanks. I care a lot about it-- I just didnt know so many other people did too.
Being a New Orleans native I know this story all too well. I researched documents where my great grandmother was listed as white, then mulatto and finally negro. I'm sure they passed as white to have a better life as sad as it may be to hear back in those days. "Passe Blanc" is what we called it when I came up in New Orleans. To this day my family is still in the dark about our ancestors even after DNA test. My grandparents died with many of those secrets
Don’t give up! I know the DNA test actually was not helpful except for matching with relatives. I just was taught the term Passé Blanc this summer…. there are ways to find your ancestors- I’ll be talking about that soon. I hope you stay!
@@nytn thank you so much!
They passed because they were. Having SOME W.African Admix does NOT remove your”Whiteness”.Color is NOT synonymous w/race.
I encourage everyone to look at those old family records. It's definitely an interesting topic and interesting to find your roots. I found out that my step-grandfather, who was basically my main grandfather, lived as a white man for 30 years in New York then returned to being Black again. He married, had kids, and lived as a white doctor. He was able to do this as he completed medical school in Europe then returned "a new man". Eventually, his wife died, and he married a black woman and moved to California. He was just doing his thing. He did have a French mother from France, which I did not know at all. He never said! Also, he was not from Louisiana but Washington State. I did find many relatives moving on from Louisiana on my dad's side to pass, but this one floored me because I knew him, and he lived with my even more white-presenting grandmother my whole childhood. She would never fully pass, but she did do it a bit to go to whites-only clubs or shops or sit in front on public transport if she wanted. She never lied on the census or left her family. But I do understand why they did this sometimes. The world was very harsh then.
Alli, this was such a thoughtful reply. Im so thankful you took the time. The world was so harsh. People will always try to survive and protect their family and I dont think I can blame them for doing however they needed to
With all due respect, allicm, your post confuses me.
How could you step-grandfather pass as a white person in one place and as a black one in another? I understand that the world was harsh then (it still is, sometimes) but, surely, anyone could tell what he was just by looking at him.
How did your grandmother manage to survive as a white-presentng person?
@@nytn I answered earlier with a long post. But simpler response is. He did look white. My grandmother was just pale. He was a little tanner. He cut family ties it seems when he moved. I never met his white sons for example. I never heard of them until I looked them up. My mom said she knew about them though when I asked. Anyway, my grandmother was not alone. She had sisters, friends similar to her. Lived in a bit of middle class bubble. But I don’t know how hard it was. Probably not so easy. She seemed to stick out in her school photos for sure. My guess is both of them were about 20-25% African at most tbh. Several generations back that was less uncommon due to the one-drop rule.
@@allicmw557 So if he is very white why he went "to being black", that's sound absurd, sounds like he is biracial.
Alot of people passed back in the day. Mostly for economic reasons. Sad to be in a place where you have to give up everything you know and love just to make a bit of progress. I'm glad no one that I know of passed in my family. I always say I'm lightly melanated but hella Black. I'd be sad if that would have been taken from me. It's a very important part of my identity.
I am so happy hearing stories of people who have a rock-solid identity. It's a strange thing to inherit for our family in a lot of ways. Thank you so much for watching episode 1 and sharing with me!
@@jcjc3914 I found out my dad wasn't my biological father when I took the DNA test. It's been almost 4 years now and I think I've come to terms with it finally. Both of my parents are gone so I couldn't ask them any questions and I don't have any matches that are close enough for me to know who my biological father is with absolute certainty. I have a pretty good idea though but he has also passed on many years ago. I was just glad I was still Black lol. That would have devastated me even more cause it is my identity. My daddy was the one who raised me. Loved me. Gave me my name.
We need more and more stories like yours. Not just for you but for the sake of humanity. Too many important stories like yours fall into oblivion. Amazing story sis
I feel very humbled by this comment and I appreciate you taking the time to say what you did--I didn't know I had so many kindred spirits in the world!🥰
@@nytn ❤❤
@@nytn you really do have. I come from a colonial family but also sort of remixed several times. My mum always brought me up to be proud of my mixed heritage which is South Asian and English, but with other European mixes from the past too. She herself though culturally white was never accepted as white here in Britain. It is not easy to be mixed as both black/brown people and white people have a nose for it. I once met a ŵoman who was mixed and identified as black and who to me was exactly that, she looked at me and my child and said well, you two are different, and then burst out I know what it is, you are mixed! I was so happy as she gave us both a hug and it felt like instant acceptance, it was sweet relief! One of the hardest things of all has been listening to white people who presume that is what I am now I am old and have white hair, telling me what they think of POC no matter what their origin. It really makes my toes curl ! Funnily enough in South Asia where my was from I was always instantly accepted and always felt at home. Personally I never use the words race or or inter racial, bi racial etc, first because we are all human and not really different at all we all started brown skinned anyway, but also because it fixes people into a hierarchy based up son skin. I prefer mixed heritage, it takes in the very many variations around the world. I can see from your account already that the background of people from Louise/Lola’s part of America is altogether more complex than just a binary colour distinction. There’s a lot of us out there with incredible family histories forged by historical events neither we nor our ancestors had much control over, these secrets were mostly kept not out of shame but out of a sense of protection for the next generations. In my case the real names of women of colour are often omitted to meet the social needs of the times. Wear your history with pride, maybe one day our great grandchildren and their children will be able to openly claim and find interesting their mixed heritage, wouldn’t that be marvellous!
beautiful comment-- thank you so much for that.
This is wonderful to share this history which usually by the time it's recognised is so far forgotten we can't find our roots.
My great-grandmother was Métis and people primary said she was Québécoise, which she always was quick to agree with. It wasn't until she passed that my grandmother and I got to sit down and go through her family photos and records that had been hidden away for decades and voilà, we found out the truth. Her father was given a French surname by his adoptive father, but looking by him he would never have passed. My great-grandmother was the only one out of her siblings that looked fair enough and thus was able to afford more social mobility in Canada and the US at the time by just being considered either French Canadian or from 'some southern european ethnicity'.
You understand why they did it, but at the same time you wish you could've had the opportunity to really know them and the rest of your family. That's the true evil of assimilation for me, the erasure.
I love how you phrased this---"you understand why they did it, but at the same time you wish you could've had the opportunity to really know them and the rest of your family". Thats it for me entirely. I am so glad you found the channel.
France is not a homogeneous country
Glad that the family are ready to know their heritage. My poor mum born of a unknown white dad and African mother in the 40's tried to pass for pure African. She looked different from her 11 siblings. She met my dad who was of the same exact scenario. We are biracial and our cousins too. Our kids are 3rd generation biracial. We have ended up being friends with other biracial people here in Kenya. We have a group where we catch up and get together. Our parents had a difficult childhood, you can imagine it was taboo to even ask why you looked different. These were children born of white colonial fathers who did not want to be found out by their family. Our grandmother's on the other hand got married with their mixed race babies who deemed as children of shame, ugly looking and all. They were not black enough. Today we are proud of who we are. We consider ourselves "people of a small tribe"
Helena, so. glad you are here and for your thoughtful comment. I am amazed by the stories that are pouring out. I hope you will stay on the channel!
Do alot of mixed race Kenyans marry other mixed race Kenyans?
In fact you are people of a big tribe worldwide.
Everywhere that happened, now i think we can say we are millions and millions from mixed races in this particular situation.
But i agree some places its different based on the unique history of countries and cultural views.
Like where i live we are certainly all mixed and its not a big deal, we embrace it. When in the caribeans there is racism against creoles with fair skin, called traitors etc
even if they are descendants and have nothing to do with past events.
😊
Sending you love from Kenya 🇰🇪
Lola's story is great! I can resonate with it because my moms side of the family was/is biracial as well as multigenerational mixed. Her father's cousins packed up and moved up North and started living a life as "passing". Him and my aunt both chose to stay and be who they were and of course he married my grandmother. My mom probably found this side of the family about 10+ years ago. Some were willing to meet her and some not so much. I am thankful to know about my heritage and the more and more I find channels like yours I become more and more intrigued by what I am learning. After knowing more about my history and seeing the results of my DNA; I now know why I look the way I do and where I am from. I am very proud to be multigenerational and I cannot wait to visit the places of my roots! Great Channel! Thank you for sharing your beautiful story! Looking forward to watching more now that I have subscribed. Blessings! 🥰
Im so glad to have to you here! These stories need to be saved. Thank you for sharing part of yours
She looked like my grandmother my mom mom. She was very light, but she knew she was black. I'm light but you can tell I'm black and proud of it.
Wow, thank you for sharing. Where did your family grow up if you don't mind? Im so glad you have that strong identity. It's a real blessing
Same here. I have fair skin, red hair but my features are clearly Black. I love that part of me
I was born in New York born in Harlem
So many people from Louisiana did this via the great migration to California, Chicago and Detroit. Still today many grandchildren and great grandchildren don’t know they are black. First you have to fully understand the deep implications of slavery and how free people of color bought their darker skinned brothers, sisters and others out of slavery and took them to the North. They became responsible for taking care of their siblings and relatives financially because they could pass. There’s so much more to this. The real stories should be told.
This made me cry, not even kidding. The idea of all of these people not knowing who they are....the need to escape if at all possible. I hope you enjoy the other episodes, you might especially like episode 3 when I went to Louisiana to find out why Lola was afraid to be a person of color. Speaks of what you just said. Thank you so much for your comment, Im going to sit with it awhile. Here is episode 3 ua-cam.com/video/bLxaTBhCu_Y/v-deo.html
It’s so sad that Lola felt that she had to lie about her race, even in racially diverse New York in order to make a better life for herself and her family. She knew that skin color played a vital role in one’s health, wealth, success, and quality of life, especially in the past.
I agree! I don’t think our area of NY was as diverse yet though. Makes me sad
I don’t know how I came to this video, but I watched it with my mouth wide open, because it’s so similar to my grandmother’s story. She was of mixed decent and very passable for white. Irish, German, Native American and black. Her name was Louise , and also from Long Island. And also someone who did not talk about her past. Thank you for this.
That is incredible! This is the first episode of a handful. I hope you watch the rest and let me know how it compares to your story
Hi, born and raised in SW Louisiana. Warms my heart to hear you’ve found out so much about your family history. We get so many descendants coming through to find out more. Our culture is slowly re-emerging from all the interest. The elders call this passé blanc where I’m from. Growing up I learned as much as I could from them which was difficult with the language barrier.
Your comment gave me goosebumps! So many people ARE reconnecting to their roots. I hope it changes our nation for the better. I hope you stay on the channel with me! I’m going to start a deep dive into our ancestors
@@nytn how is is going to change racism against black people ? Yr GGmother passed for white and all of her descendants are now white and experience white privilege. Now, what actions do yr and yr family think they could do to go against racism?
@@hailie_Selassie This channel, for one. Digging into my family's history and telling my children and the world. You might be interested in this video I did on my enslaved 5th great grandfather and his daughter : ua-cam.com/video/uAxyz0q0A4s/v-deo.html
I literally got chills as I read your post. "The elders call this passé blanc where I’m from", 100% Love. Thank you for sharing.
It seems like many of the family still had a hard time mentioning the black part of their heitage.
Thank you for this comment--made me think. It wasn’t mentioned in these episodes but Lola’s fathers line comes from slaves. Her mother side was native. I may do an episode on that later. I think African Americans in the south went through so much- I can only speak for myself but I’m not totally sure how to fold in that identity when I was shielded from so much. And I doubt most people would think we were part Black. This is something I’m still trying to balance- honoring our ancestors without claiming a bunch of things that don’t really belong to me.
@@nytn
Hello
May I add that on many more occasions than truly apply, BLACK Americans have claimed Native ancestry when in fact it wasn't true.
The admixture oftentimes was someone white.
.i e.. French, Spanish or Jewish.
I'm a Black American who knows our history very very well.
I wish you the best and be braced for the truth.
Most relative kept saying Indian. But the term Mulatto clearly explains her background.
@@jaiyabyrd4177 The racial mixture within the Creole community in Louisiana often includes Native American. Each family of course would have their own unique mix. DNA tests are an option to reveal hidden family history.
@@lizabetx483
I totally agree 💯
Mulatto is half white half Black.
But this still has been so interesting and kinda scary
My great grandmother was also mulatto. She was born and raised in Pa. I discovered a whole new family as a result of my genealogy research. When my grandmother got married she moved to Ohio and began her new life as a woman of color who was passing as white. She did what she felt would make her life easier.
Pam, I am so glad you found the channel. I love hearing stories that are similar to our family. I hope you check out the other videos and stay around! :)
My great grandmother was half white and black. My great grandfather was Black, Native American and white. They had 5 children together. They lived on the family farm with acres . She left him said life was too hard. Married a white man up north passed as white and they had 7 children together. That did a number on my grandma and her siblings. They was so fair they could pass as well. Hair silky like Indians. Had African American features nose or lips. But they quickly denied they was remotely white because of their mother. I grew up asking my mother why is your mother white and you’re black?? My mother was light skin African American. But the 5yr old in me couldn’t grasp. But she loved all us. She had 11 children married at 14yrs of age. Had children from every color of the rainbow . But the darkest ones were so beautiful. Because I could see the Native American in them. I remember my cousins visiting asking why aren’t you light like your mother??? I was brown skin like my father. But my mother taught my brother and I that our skin tone was beautiful. So we didn’t have problems in that area. She instilled many great things in us. She would be livid . If she knew I shared this with social media. I’m also from Louisiana. So I have all that in my bloodline. Louisiana is a melting pot like Gumbo. Man I miss home a lot these days. I have white family members their name is Osborne. I’m sure they’re are aware of it now. But they wouldn’t dare disclose this information now. Racism is still rampant in Louisiana. So I can understand why grandma was upset. You left your children. Got divorced the husband and children. And started another family. It had to hurt. From my understanding from my mother her grandmother look completely white with red hair. She did comeback to visit her 1st of children. But her children with her white husband never knew she was passing. He thought she just was visiting sisters and other family members. I guess for her it was self preservation huh?? ? And on my dad side they was owned by Irish slave masters. It’s amazing what you find out when you research.
Aunt Maggie look just like my grandmother. Except she had straight silky brown hair like an Indian. High cheekbones as well. I use to hate them . But I love them with my full lips. It’s funny how other’s insecurities can make question yourself. Thx for sharing
Wow, what a sad beginning for your grandmother. Do you know what happened to your great-grandfather after his wife left, and your great aunts/uncles (your grandmother's four siblings)?
This made me laugh, I NEVER would have thought Aunt Maggie was anything but Irish until now as an adult looking back and....yah. I see it. So glad for all the discussion you have brought!
@@nytn I wish I could send you a picture. It’s so uncanny. But I love it. And you’re brave. I pray that I didn’t sound like I was being mean. With social media and texts it’s hard to guage a person.🥰🥰🥰
@@FourSeasons04 My great grandfather never remarried. He raised his children until they left and married. He worked on the family farm until his death. My Aunts/Uncles never married a white person. They did the opposite. I think they was jaded given the family circumstances. But I’m glad she is accepting of Shae happened in that era.
My friend who's white did an ancestry test and she found out she had several family members pass for white she was so excited to find out she had African blood in her she told me now we really got a lot in common 😂😂😂😂. This happens so much I had family members who passed as white or italian I understand why I think it's sad people had to hide who they where but it is what is.
You mean tried to pass as Southern Italian. Specifically southern because we are the ones with brown Mediterranean features. Or as northern Italians/ Northern Europeans call us terrone. 🙄THE CULTURA LATINA, THE LATIN PEOPLE, THE LATINO (Latini) TRIBES, THE LATIN ETHNICITY ALL COME FROM ITALY! LATINO IS THE SOLE IDENTITY OF SOUTHERN EUROPEAN LATIN MEDITERRANEAN DIASPORA. Latin europe was Latinized by ROME ITALY hence how Latina italy got the name Latina. & HISPANIC (Hispania) is literally the Latin language MEANING SPAIN NOT the NATIVE AMERICANS they Colonized. Latin America got its name SOLELY and ONLY to mean the part of the Americas CONQUERED by LATIN EUROPE and that is all it will EVER MEAN. Latin ORIGIN, HISTORY& people are NON INTERCHANGEABLE. STOP THE CULTURAL THEFT OF MY PEOPLE& OUR ANCESTRY. BRAINWASHED AMERICAN/ MOSTLY NORTH AMERICAN CULTURAL APPROPRIATION & CULTURAL THEFT FOR "PROFIT AND GAIN" WILL NEVER BE LATINO. CULTURAL APPROPRIATION EXIST BECAUSE THOSE LIKE YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE AND WILL CONTINUE TO BENEFIT FROM THE CULTURAL THEFT TOWARDS US TRUE LATIN PEOPLE AND OUR HISTORICAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS! AND US TRUE LATINS ARE & HAVE ALWAYS BEEN MULTI GENETICALLY MIXED ETHNIC PEOPLE DUE TO OUR GENETIC CONTRIBUTORS FROM OUR MIDDLE EASTERN (ASIAN), NORTHERN AFRICAN, AND BALKAN GYPSIE DNA. THERE ARE NO "WHITE" LATINS. JUST MORE ASSIMILATION . SOUTH CENTRAL AMERICANS AND MEXICANS ARE NATIVE AMERICANS, MESTIZOS, CASTIZOS, PARDOS, ZAMBOS, AND PURE SUB SAHARAN AFRICANS. NOT LATINS, NOT LATIN BLOOD, THEREFORE NOT LATINO. IN SOUTH CENTRAL AMERICA AND MÉXICO THE ONLY PEOPLE CALLED LATINO AND HISPANIC ARE US SOUTHERN EUROPEANS OF LATIN MEDITERRANEAN ORIGIN. OBVIOUSLY THE SAME IN LATIN EUROPE. PUSHING AND CONTRIBUTING TO BRAINWASHED NORTH AMERICAN MISAPPROPRIATION OF FOREIGN TERMS SUCH AS LATIN/LATINO AS TRENDING PROPAGANDA FOR SOCIAL STATUS TO APPEAR MORE DESIRABLE DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE CONTINUING CONTRIBUTIONS OF CULTURAL THEFT. THE TERM LATINO DERIVES FROM THE TERM LATINI, THE LATINI WHERE THE VERY FIRST LATIN TRIBE TO EXIST FROM ITALY! LATINI IS PLURAL MEANING MORE THAN ONE LATINO! AND LATINO IS SINGULAR FOR LATINI MEANING ONE LATINO. THE SAME WITH LATINA AND LATINE. ALL TERMS CREATED BY THE TRUE LATIN PEOPLE OF ITALY. PUSHING BRAINWASHED AMERICAN MOSTLY NORTH AMERICAN CULTURAL RAPE AS A FASHION TREND FOR “PROFIT & GAIN” NEEDS TO BE EXPOSED. YOU CAN NOT BE PART OF AN ORIGIN, HISTORY AND ETHNICITY WHICH YOUR ANCESTORS FACTUALLY ARE NOT HISTORICALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR.
Similar thing happened to my buddy, he was told all his life he had some "Cherokee" ancestry, white guy with a couple vaguely ethnic looking features and curly hair. Come to find out after an ancestry test that he's almost 20% Sub-Saharan African descent, no trace of Native ancestry. Crazy thing was his family has some really problematic ideas about race, I was like somebody knew they were lying lol cuz ain't no way
You can't change the past
passed as white or italian ??????? italians are european they are WHITE lol
The passing for white era is shrouded in mystery and your content helped shed light as to why. In my research…the term “mulatto” was the last designation used before families were simply considered “white” or “black”. On my paternal side my ancestry is American Indian from Kentucky…and my great grandfather was the last to be considered “mulatto”. The whole community knew him as “chief”. We also had other family members who “passed for white” but it was more like a business decision for the family b/c it meant better wages…specifically for those family members who didn’t own land. Your family’s story has reminded me that there’s so much to uncover from that era in time. Thank you for sharing!
❤️ Love this rich history so much! My grandfather, my moms dad, told me the story of how my moms mother was part White from her Dads side of her family back in Alexandria, Louisiana but he didn't explain why, he just said "they" don't want us kid's to know! My grandmother looked more like her Indian side too me! Thank you so much for this documentary. We need the children to know how important this was so it can't be repeated. Even for myself, I notice that some Whites don't like me and also some Black's don't feel comfortable with me but thanks to the history I was gifted, I understand and it never bothers me at all! We're all the same!
Sharon, I got goosebumps reading your comment-- it resonated SO deeply with me. I hope you will stay with me on the channel, so much to unpack, learn and talk about. Once I became a mom, this was of utmost importance. No more "not knowing".
"Not allowed to see how the sausage is made?" Love that! The fashions and hair styles in the pictures also gave me flashbacks as I was born in the mid 1950's.
My paternal grandmother was about Lola's complexion if not a shade darker but her parents were a bit lighter. From what I was told growing up it's from having Cherokee in the blood.
That is really interesting. Lola was a lot lighter than her siblings- but it sounded like she was pretty careful about the sun. I don’t know how Lola’s mother identified but most of our native line comes from that side.
She was smart not to tell bc yt ppl are very racist and cruel esp back then. When they couldn't get in trouble for it. Lola was smart. She just wanted to live in Peace.
I think you are right about wanting to just live in peace--once she had kids, it seemed like her goal was to protect them the best she could. Thanks for watching:)
Yea it’s really easy to look through the eyes of the 21st century and blame her for “passing” but the truth is back in the day if you could pass, most people did just that, because it meant a completely better life for their family. Imagine how scared she always must have been tho of people finding out her secret. Or how scared she would’ve been every time she got pregnant wondering “what if this baby comes out with undeniable African looks?” It would be exhausting to live a lie like that.
Why are you surprised she did this? It was all about SURVIVAL. DISCRIMINATION is horrible, unless you have lived it, you wouldn’t know how painful it is. SHE DID THE RIGHT THING! Kudos to her! ❤😊🎉
I can’t imagine what she was trying to protect the kids from. When I edited episode three I started to figure it out. That was really hard
Unambiguously Black people live this reality everyday in this country. Who doesn’t know about discrimination? Perhaps you, but not Black folks. Speak for yourself.
She did "her" thing for her reasons. Not necessarily the "right" thing! I am not surprised at this, I just chose to honor all those who stood their ground as Black even though they suffered for it. Indian indeed! None of the folks in this video actually told us that they found BLACK in their ancestry or who it was. One of them did allude to it though. Black must be a curse that I don't know about! lol
As a black personality who is very ambiguous, I think that is a terrible sentiment what about obviously black people? I’m sickened by these comments because u know how badly black folks are treated yet most of u don’t give a damn about us or our treatment this world is just a hell scape.
I personally don't believe that denying who you are is "the right thing", but she obviously did what she thought she had to do.
This was survival it wasn't to harm or hurt. I'm glad she lived the life she wanted and happy the family can know the truth.
I hope you check out some of the other videos! I have uncovered so much already!
@@nytn yes indeed. I just finished the one about the horrible treatment of Italians. Great topics!
Lena Horne was light and Johnny Cash's first wife Vivian Liberto was also light. In fact, it was proven that Roseanne Cash, Johnny and Vivian's oldest daughter, is cousin to Angela Bassett. So it happened more often than people think.
A lot of blacks with multicultural heritage were reclassified after the 1930s. This happened to my maternal great grand parents they were listed as mulatto before the 1930s. After 1930 they were classified as just black. My great grandfather has Cherokee-Shawnee roots. His grandfather is buried on Shawnee territory in Oklahoma. We also have traced one of my maternal grandfathers back to Scotland. Many whites particularly in the South have a black ancestor in the family tree .
"Many whites particularly in the South have a black ancestor in the family tree ."
The _____ in the woodpile. 🤣🤣
@@ucity88 whatever you wanna call it. They know, most just don’t acknowledge it…
Many Native Americans or anyone not white were also classified as Black. There’s an actual law in Virginia They were called racial integrity laws. Many Black Americans are actually Native American or mixed African and Native American. There’s also some whites that paid to be classified as Native American to gain access to land grants. They are called the $5 Indians.
Being "passe blanc" in south Louisiana is still fairly common to this day. I met a woman from New Orleans in 2008 who talked with me at length about coming from a passe white family down there. They snub people with darker skin and try to only have children for white or light-skinned partners. This has gone on for centuries down there.
Yes, you're right. It is still practice in New Orleans and central Louisiana. . It's easier for a dark skin black man to marry a white woman than a Creole woman.
SO? bLACKS ARE MARRYING WHITE WOMEN AND mEXICAN WOMEN, iTALIAN WOMEN aSIAN WOMEN, - WHO CARES? i DON'T -I PASS WHEN I WANT TO- BLESS EVERYONE
My grandmother is from Louisiana. A lot of people with identical stories like this look very similar. Especially from natchitoches, LA and DeSoto. Lots of French names like Eloise, Alfred, Effie, Florence, Frederick, Clementine, Mary, Helen, My grandma did not opt to pass but our family genes are ambiguous and you can’t tell from some of my family members are African American
That happened so much all over this country. My family are from the Appalachia’s and they’re very multi ethnic. My grandma and my great grandma both used to school me in how to whiten my skin just in case and I was born in the 70’s. They were genuinely afraid to share their heritage & just said we were either French or dark German when we were Native, African, European, and Middle Eastern mixed.
I tried lightening my face in highschool, I seriously messed up my skin😌
I am born and raised in central Louisiana. Not far from Natchitoches actually. It’s not uncommon for someone to say “you’ve got “Indian” in your blood/family”, when they suspect you are “mixed” with another race. It can literally be any other race. Good luck with your search for truth 💕
Back then it was rough being black down south. I was raised in Monroe, Louisiana. My mom's family is from there. Last name LeDent. We're black with French ancestry. Louisiana is so unique. The mixture of people and food. French, Spanish, Native American, African. Mostly due to the area being at the water which was a main means of traveling back then.
Thank 😊 you for explaining this! Now my family history is much clearer! ❤️ 😍 loving it all!!! Checking ✔️ ✅️ in from the Bay Area!!
I don't recall any black people ever saying it was any easier to be black in the east or Midwest. All the same laws applied and so did segregation. It was not just in the south that is a massive misconception.
Oh my goodness. This sounds very familiar. My grandmother was from Ebarb, Louisiana. The Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb, which isn't that far from Campti. My grandmother came from a broken, poor area, not forthcoming with family history. Her racial description changed the in the 1940s census. Most of my family who may have been knowlegeable of our heritage on my father's side is deceased so I'm back tracking through records and learning mostly on my own. I'm so glad you put this documentary together.
Stacey--this is crazy, but Lola's mother's side looks to be connected to the Choctaw Apache tribe! I have not finished all the paperwork on it yet. I did speak to Dr Robert Caldwell (who is in the tribe) in this series, I think he is in Episode 3 and 4. Im so glad you found the channel! Let's stay connected :)
@@nytn I’ll definitely continue to follow your story! 😁
What tickles me is some people are so racist but if you have them shake their family tree a bit, they may discover who they hate, loved to create them and you wouldn't be here without them.
This is my story too in relationship to my mother's Italian side of the family! They tried saying we had native American blood in us. I had my DNA tested and realized there is no native blood. It is West African (Senegalese)! My family was pissed when I notified them of the results in 2018! I'm currently 51 years old and my family has kept this hush all my life!
Is there a part 2
And 3 and 4 I’ll link the playlist: "Finding Lola" Documentary Episodes
ua-cam.com/play/PLvzaW1c7S5hQcox9CjaJWA7QKTYXw9Zn2.html
I would be ashamed if my ppl paraded around like they were the enemy , they probably participated in hanginz too. It showed cowardice.
Your great grandma was beautiful. I'm trying to trace my black ancestors right now - I wasn't even aware of it until I did a DNA test although it was a pleasant surprise. I just want to know who I am and where I came from too.
Wow what a story!! I hope you enjoy the other episodes and can find a place where you feel comfortable digging into your history at your own pace. Im so glad you are here :)
It’s interesting in my native language Lola is the word for grandmother so for years i thought my grandmothers name was Lola. Wonderfully done video
"Passing was a way for many Afro-Americans who had very light skin to escape Jim Crow segregation. I have had two great aunts who have passed to get better treatment in establishments and jobs. However, they came back to the Black community and after they realized the loneliness that came with doing such as thing.
In addition, many Afro-Americans would also pass as other groups such as pretending to be Mexican (Mexicans were and are white.) in order to be treated better. This also came with lying about their origin as well. Some Afro-Americans would lie about being Native-Americans or having Native ancestry and some would lie about being from another group.
They did this because of how dangerous it was to be themselves as a Black person in the Jim Crow South. All of the lynchings of Afro-Americans, the anti-Black racism etc.
"Passing" for some Afro-Americans was a means of survival, but "passing" came at a cost. They had to walk away from friends, family, their community, and their culture in order to assume an identity that wasn't their own.
In our community as Afro-Americans passing was frowned upon (and rightfully so) and there were some light-skin Black people who refused to pass and didn't understand why any Black person would do such a thing.
Bottom being Black in this society has been hard and not easy and so kind of see why a Black person would try to make their lives easier, but at what cost? Is gaining privileges into whiteness worth walking away from your Black family members, your culture, and community?
What a beautiful woman your great grandmother was.
Thank you-- Im really honored to tell her story
I’m a black woman in my 50’s and there was so many emotions and thoughts I experienced. Our ancestors passed for many reasons;
-to do better for family or themselves
-to get away from the hardship
- some because they were taught and made to feel less than or not at all human beings as a black person.
I understand those that feel it was wrong to pass and those that felt it was their way out. The fact is there was those who could not do this and those that wouldn’t even if they could because they wouldn’t dare leave their family behind. I also believe in either situation the darker skin felt hurt from all directions, (just saying lighter skin had an opportunity darker skin didn’t have whether it was taken or not) like the color of their skin, their humanity, and a whole system that painted them in such a damning treacherous light that all ran from the beauty of beautiful beings.
No one upping here… just my thought that it is nuanced.
I am so glad for this comment. I just saw it come through. This is the beginning of my journey, and I have so much to find out. I did get a chance to find and connect with my black cousins. They will be coming on here! Whatever the reason for passing, I am so grateful to be reconnecting with our family. It is a gift!
Passing makes me angry for so many reasons. All I think about is the movie "Imitation of Life" from 1959. Passing hurt families.
It definitely had ripple effects. There was a lot of...lying about things. The age thing was one, there were others. It kind of created an environment where the truth was...relative. And that's really hard. Thank you so much for watching and sharing on here.
You should watch "Imitation of Life" from 1959. It's a great movie about a young woman passing.@@nytn
I will-- thank you for the rec! Im learning so much from all the feedback on this.
You clearly don't know what is involved when people pass. I am not here to educate you on the subject.@@LaAerial
@@dorealsome people that look like they could pass, prefer not to and if asked they will say they are predominantly African american.
Learning the truth about ethnicity and so-called race has helped many individuals overcome even deep-seated prejudices. They have come see that every person who has ever lived as part of the one human race with its wondrous variety. Sadly, this common labeling of people has only served to further divide the human family and perpetuate inordinate ethnic pride.
I'm Puerto Rican currently living in Louisiana. Louisiana had at some point in the history Spaniards and Spaniards or Spanish, Romanian, Italian, Portuguese and French are related by the Latins roots and they were one only race in the beginning (Roman, Etrusko, Iberic and some other ancestries, which composed the Roman Empire were dark haired and olive or tanned skin as they lived close to the Mediterranean Sea and the weather there is similar to Louisiana. I know because I was there before on Italy) and their language derivates from the Latin and many of them were olive or tanned skin as many people in the south part of those countries descend from the Romans and Romans had that type of skin mostly. The other people feom those countries that are fair skin and light hair descend from Ireland, Germany and England and are not originally from there mostly except for the Basque Spanish people which have a little bit in common with French and Irish. Also Canarian Spanish have mostly light hair and fair skin but they descend from Berbers and they had those physical and language caracteristics as it is a race next to the Arameic Jewish. The Canary Islands are seven and their aboriginal population are the Guanches which are a type of Berber people who were very friendly. Spain and Portugal were invaded by Arabs (cousins of the Jewish) which before invaded North African countries with Berber population close to Spain so I understand Mrs. Perot was white.
I'm just mind blown! My husband has Iroquois blood and a lot of it. When I asked why he hasn't registered, I found out that nobody in his family was. They're from Texas.... Anyway, my mother in law said that her Grandfather, who was 100% Iroquois, was ashamed to admit to his Indian blood. They were so poor too and could have qualified for benefits because he was Indian. They said he'd never take a penny from the govt AND he refused to give anyone leverage to abuse him. These stories are just so sad to me! I wonder what he'd think now... its so different and people are proud of their heritage. I guess it was his generation who paved the way for us to be truly free though. Anyway... im loving your channel! Thank you for this!
Im pretty sure the Iroquois have some serious BQ rules as well, which brings up a WHOLE other issue.... But yes, I wonder the same thing, exactly- What would they think now? Times arent perfect, but people are proud and talking about who they are. Something so foreign to many of us.
I am so glad you are here, hope we can talk more !
I was born in Louisiana, my father was dark complected with dark curly hair, a very handsome man, my mother a very light complected redhead, I am light complected like my mother but have my dad’s curly hair ( the first hairdresser that could do anything with it was black) I am 65 years old and have wondered all my adult life what my actual heritage is, I seriously think I may do one of the DNA test’s…
Kathy-- oh my gosh. YOU BELONG HERE. Im so glad you found the channel Keep me posted on your family story
My aunt started doing genealogy on our family & it’s amazing to find out things that weren’t discussed & secrets our grandparents took to their graves😞
it was so common!!
She was just passing like so many did in that time. But many didn’t. I’m so happy that mines didn’t and stayed connected to their families. This is so interesting seeing it from the opposite perspective. Awesome job!!!
Thank you for being here! I’m hoping to keep working on this story
My kids were all born blonde and blue eyed. We found out from their aunt on my husband’s side that their great great grandfather was from the Congo!
The black race is so mixed that I am never surprised at what our genetics reveal.
There are so many beautiful mixed race people in Louisiana. We should all be able to embrace every part our heritage freely and proudly. This gives our country so much depth and is one of things that makes us great.
Amen! I am so proud of this heritage, and I plan to make up for all the time we didnt know about it
I think we are related. And we didn't know that my Grandmother wasn't just French and Native American. They left Campti for Monroe. My Great-grandmother wouldn't let anyone talk about anything from past. It took DNA tests and my niece doing the genealogy. They went to segregated schools being black, white, and Indian. We have Perot's in our family tree but right now I can't tell you how far back. It's nice to know our family wasn't the only one whose family was "passed" as white from Campti, which apparently is known for being mixed.
Come find me on Facebook! Im no genealogist but I do share a lot of stuff I've come across for the family. You might really like seeing episode 3 of this series.ua-cam.com/video/bLxaTBhCu_Y/v-deo.html
It’s unfortunate that we’re not close enough while our elders are around to learn these things by chatting instead of interviewing them. But I’m happy for this woman who knows the importance of ancestral pov.
Well, there is always DNA
My next video will address dna!
Very interesting. This is the first mention I have seen of Campti, LA where my children's relatives are from. When you research the history of the town, they really did have a lot of Native American people in the region, so perhaps their family has both types of heritage. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for commenting and watching! Yes Lola’s moms family was native and Lola’s dads side was African. The paper trail confirmed the DNA communities we got- I’ll share those soon. Campti’s history is so vibrant
I am Black and my Great grandad was very fair skin with green eyes the sweetest man you could have known, he had a hard time in the Black community because of his fair skin so he married a very dark skinned women to darken his kids so they wouldn't be treated badly but her also really loved her. My grandad was sad because he said I am just as Black as any other Black person it was important for him to be proud of his heritage no matter what because he said we are good people in a bad world that hate us because demons know who we are tribe of Judah! God in Heaven is very important in my family!
I guess the shame is still there because the family stumbled around the word African American numerous times, but felt comfortable saying French, Indian and even Spanish, BUT from Spain. So much has changed but a lot remains the same.
Thank you for that comment, I think for me personally- since I’m obviously white -claiming to be part African…almost feels dishonest. Like there is so much history and pain wrapped up in the AA experience, I don’t want to be flippant
I did the deepdive and tried to convince as many family members as possible to talk to me. Not every one said yes…
my parents are from New Orleans, we consider ourselves Creole, culturally. We always thought we were Black, French, and Indian. DNA shows we are actually European, West African with not a drop of Native dna. genealogy is fascinating
Did your DNA communities show any native groups at all though?? Im going to release a video on that this weekend hopefully.
@@nytn none, the only hits I get in N America is with the Louisiana Creole community. my African dna is 32% total from Africa's West Coast- Nigeria, Benin/Togo, Senegal, Ghana, Bantu Tribes.
I'm at 6:55 and I must say this before I learn anything more. I REALLY LIKE LOLA. Just from her fudging her birthdate to be younger and keeping her past to her past she truly was an individual before any member of a group. What a great spirit I hope I get to meet her in paradise.
Exactly remember how long this planet is , that's how long your family has struggled to survive ,so that you could be here and have life and joy and continue raising your family.
I'm from Alexandria, La and a lot of African Americans from Natchitoches passed for white. These were the Cane River Creoles. Read the book Cane River and tells the story of families passing.
my great great grandmother was Angelina Perot! buried in St Natchitoches cemetery.
That must be us!!'
This happens everywhere and in somecases even now. My mother is Zimbabwean she was born in what was formally know as Rhodisia. When she got pregnant with my oldest brother my dad being white. Was such a huge scandal. Later they got married had more kids etc. When my parents divorced when I was 10 my mother remarried a Dutch man. My father is also Dutch. We moved back to the Netherlands when I was 13. I remember my mom not wanting me to sit out in the sun. She insisted I would walk under an umbrella make sure I had lots of sunscrean all the time. She would get mad when I always mentioned my nationality being half Dutch half Zimbabwean. She always initiated I just said Dutch. I am in no way white passing. My mother grew up learning that the lighter skinned you where the better opportunities you got. So that's how she tried to raise us. It never worked I was too proud of the fact I am of both world's. It has taken my mom many years to accept to be proud and not ashamed of who She is. I am 41 so this really wasn't too long ago
Was your zim mother black or mixed, so sad that in a predominant Black Country she would feel that way.
@@livingfinance true. Good question. If you have a look into the history of the coloured laws in Rhodesia at that you'll see the answers there, even then there were some different types, difference was a large amount in British territories chose to identify with their African families which meant isolation from white, Indian, Arab etc families and vice versa. It was in these settings where the differences were noticeably pronounced, but no unusual as Zim pre-colonial historical texts and oral stories speak of mixed children in the tribes.
Very common story in Louisiana.
I was so surprised to find that out. Up in NY I thought my family was just really really fringe about things…I had no idea this was a community experience
VERY.
I love her page boy haircut picture!!! Great cheekbones and a lot behind those eyes. Given the time, I understand why she didnt want to bring it up. However, I do think people need to know where they came from.
I did my own DNA and was very excited to find how many ethnicities are in my family. It also allowed me to know where my Asian shaped eyes came from my Korean/Japanese blood.
Love You Danielle painful this but the way you put it makes light.
Great work and touching story
Thank you so much, Miss Lynette! The journey is just beginning :)
My mother's sister passed for white, she was born in Louisa, VA, she died approximately 6 yrs ago! My mom could have done same, but didn't ! A lot of people back then did this sort of thing! I am not surprised!
Yvonne- I’m learning so much from all the comments and stories. Thank you!
This was fascinating. I think I read a little about the research because I was living in the same area. I hoped I'd hear more. I have mixed ancestry that was hidden too. It's important to know the diverse people who contributed to and made part of American society. Thank you for sharing the history and I look forward to learning more.
Debra, thank you so so much for your thoughtful comment. I hope you stay around the channel.There are so many of us
I’m black white and Hispanic people don’t know what I am sometimes 😂my father is black and my mother is white and Hispanic 🫶🏽I love all my races that I am and I claim them all💯💞
Thank you for these videos. The history and telling it helps many to understand and learn from the past so God willing no one would go through this again. Your stories give me insight so I can more understand, empathy to feel compassion for others and love and respect for those who walked a different journey than mine. From south Louisiana. The only thing I knew of in my history from a ways back is that you could not speak in French in schools or you would get punished . My great great aunt ( La lee as we called her. Not sure of spelling) only spoke French and she lived to be 102
Marguerite, this comment and your other one were so beautiful and insightful. I teared up a little but at both of them. I didnt know French was not allowed to be spoken-- Lola apparently grew up speaking Creole/Cajun French but never told any of us and never taught my family. What you said is one of the reasons I decided to share our family's ongoing journey---so we can maybe not judge each other so quickly. Appreciate you, and I hope you will stay on the channel for awhile!
Absolutely. My first and only granddaughter is 6 and has Native American in her. Let me tell you she’s the most beautiful little girl and I’m so proud of her heritage and the good looks and absolutely beautiful long thick hair she has.
Thank you for sharing your amazing journey! I have gone though some of the same things researching my roots.. Many secrets and many lies in my family... Both of my grandparents migrated from Louisiana to Wisconsin in the 1920's.
Paula-there are SO many of us! It’s time to start peeling away the layers together
Appalachian "melungeons" also known as Appalachian Creoles, also have had the same issues with "passing" because for the most part, they are tri-racial. In a family, with the same two parents, the children are often different shades/colors, some being dark like Subcontinent Indians (from India) and some being blond or redheaded, fair-skinned with freckles. I suppose it's kind of like an apple. You can plant the seeds of an apple, but you will not wind up with an apple like the one you ate. The tree will produce apples, yes, but not with a variant DNA. Fascinating to me!
Yes tri-racial! Agree with everything you say. My family had a lot of variance. I think it’s beautiful to see the differences in everyone:)
I too have family who choose the path of passing. When that path is chosen the family members who pass has to place themselves into exile from all family connections and documents. Name changes/ or switching DOB and location information on census reports… so research becomes challenging.
There is a saying anyone who has roots from Louisiana they are all related.
You are so right, Yvonne! The research was so hard because all the facts had been changed around...but we are getting there...and finding out we are related to most of Louisiana :)
What’s the Louisiana song at the beginning of video. Thanks.
My husband wrote it, you can watch it here too: ua-cam.com/video/VfctUwWXR_Q/v-deo.html
Love it. Thanks so much
@@0goaway0 me too!
I'm from the city Campti/Natchitoches and I know this family. My great aunt did the same thing many many years ago and moved to California. About 5 yrs ago we finally got a chance to meet her grandchildren. This is very common for fair skinned black Americans from the southern states. Unfortunately my aunt passed away before we could meet her. Well at least we have our cousins now and we love them dearly. Family is love no matter what.
Im so happy you were able to reconnect to your family as well!
No one should be ashamed of their skin colour,
Exactly!
Our family is the same. We have found documentation of my GGGgrandmother buying her 2 sons out of slavery in Natchitoches LA in 1854. Then we find them in Waco TX in 1870 under a different name (Flores). Before the purchase paperwork was found we were always told it wasn't really Flores but Lafleur (french canadian). We did a DNA test. It seems we have Nigerian somewhere. No french. You never know. People do what they have to to survive. Oh and no Spanish or Indian.
Lisa, this is an amazing story. Especially the very "obvious" hispanic last name. I think it makes a good point that we just can't make assumptions about people! If you end up finding the last name LaCour pop up...let me know, that's my family!
I should add the original last name while in LA was Poissot/Posso. Then it suddenly changed to Flores in Waco
My Italian grandparents changed there name and identity when immigrating to Canada. It was easier to find work,and live in the community if you had an English name.
It is a lot more common than I ever realized!
@@nytn , multiculturalism wasn't as welcomed. Changing their last name was all about survival and getting their needs met.
I had 3 great grandmothers that could have passed for white and didn’t attempt it. They married darker skinned black men and continued the blood line as African American. We still had characteristics of white and Indian in our lineage. We all had straight hair, high cheek bones, olive skinned toes. I think it’s wonderful that this family is learning about their grandmother, great grandmother. She was very beautiful.
This was so powerful. The stories I could tell you sis, of families I know where a grandparent admitted on their deathbed to being Indigenous/Native, after a lifetime of denial. The pressure still exists in shadows today, but back then, identity and clamming up was a whole other world of internal stress and self-repression.
I'm pretty sure my grandmother's family tried to pass as white. They were living in Sicily during the Nazi invasion. My grandma was pale but had African features. She was despised by my grandpa's mother. (She was called an ugly dog) My grandmother's best friend was black but she was terrified at the thought of her grandchildren getting into interracial relationships. She kept talking about how badly the children would be treated. She clearly had trama and ptsd by how she was treated by the nazis.