Note:
Gunnar Myrdal died in 1987, less than 70 years ago.
Therefore, this work is protected by copyright,
restricting your legal rights to reproduce it.
However, you are welcome to view it on screen, as you do now.
Read more about copyright.
Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - VIII. Social Stratification - 31. Caste and Class - 4. Crossing the Caste Line
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
/
Chapter 31. Caste and Class 685
North where segregation is not so complete and is actually illegal. Much
passing is partial and sporadic, as when Negroes (in Washington, for
example) pass for whites to attend theaters, lectures, concerts and recep-
tions. To some extent such passing breaks the cultural and spiritual isola-
tion of the Negro community and favors the dissemination of broader ideas
and patterns into the Negro community In the Deep South passing for
such purposes is so dangerous that it is much less common. Another type of
temporary passing is that done by Negro youths to secure entrance to
educational institutions where Negroes are not allowed, or where they are
allowed but feel more comfortable appearing as whites. I have come across
several such cases, all in the North. In the South the risk incurred would
ordinarily be too great.
In the Northern and Border states it seems to be relatively common for
light-skinned Negroes to ^^pass professionally” but preserve a Negro social
life. Negro girls have practically no chance of getting employment as
stenographers or secretaries, salesclerks in department stores, telephone
operators, outside the establishments run by Negroes for Negroes.*^ In
most communities their chances are slight even to become regular teachers,
social workers^ or the like, if they do not conceal their Negro ancestry.
This practice is fairly widespread. Some establishments take the precautions
through their personnel departments of making home visits and other
inquiries in order not to get Negroes in their employment. Not only in
these female middle class occupations but in all male and female trades
where Negroes are excluded, there must be a similar incentive to attempt
to “pass professionally.” Since the middle and upper class occupations are
almost all closed to Negroes, these occupations—especially medicine, den-
tistry, journalism, acting, in addition to those mentioned above—are most
pervaded by “professional passers.” The retention of a Negro social life
while passing for white occupationally involves considerable difficulties in
all sorts of personal relations with associates in the place of work, and there
is a great risk of being found out. This explains why the practice seems to be
so much more common in the North and the Border states than in the
real South. In none of the regions, it should be emphasized, is it possible
for the bulk of the Negroes to pass, because of their obviously Negroid
physical appearance.
Professional passing often seems to be a transitional stage of life. Prob-
ably in most cases these passers voluntarily retreat from the higher casters
occupational life by getting married or employed in the segregated sphere,
or they become detected after some time and have to flee the ground" with
shame. Sometimes professional passing is, however, only a step on the way
to complete and permanent passing. By cutting off their Negro relations
entirely they are able to decrease the risk of being exposed. But their fuller
•Sec Chapter 14..
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
