APG-L Archives

Archiver > APG > 2003-11 > 1068333649


From: Gladys Friedman Paulin <>
Subject: Re: [APG] Race & Blind Spots
Date: Sat, 8 Nov 2003 18:20:49 -0500
References: <20031107031550.91100.qmail@web21207.mail.yahoo.com> <004901c3a551$72fec8a0$16763e44@win2000a141573> <3FAD30A1.5070903@prodigy.net> <000201c3a629$af92cf90$16763e44@win2000a141573>
In-Reply-To: <000201c3a629$af92cf90$16763e44@win2000a141573>


All,
My maternal grandparents marriage certificate lists my grandfather's "color"
as Black, but my grandmother's as "coton"! It was prepared by an immigrant
rabbi for recent immigrants from Poland and Latvia. I joke that it means
grandpa wore a black suit and grandma must have had a cotton or satin dress
(The 'c' is pronounce 's' in Russian.)

However, my grandfather was dark complected and a photo of one of his sister's
looks very much like her skin is of the black race. We believe that there is
a possibility of a Spanish/North African Jewish ancestor in this line. Like
other semitic peoples, many Caucasian Jews have been of dark complexion.

When we started filling out forms for affirmative action in the 1960's,
personnel offices were advised to classify employees based on visual
appearance. One of my coworkers whose parents immigrated from India was
horrifed and livid that she had been classified as Black! After that, some of
us wouldm always check 'other' under Race and fill in the word "human"
Worked like a charm.
Gladys
Gladys Friedman Paulin, CGRS
Winter Springs, FL
--------------------------------
CGRS, Certified Genealogical Records Specialist, is a Service Mark of the
Board for Certification of Genealogists and used under license by Board-
certified persons who meet program standards and periodic rigorous
evaluations.




Quoting Mills <>:

> Christine wrote:
> > Elizabeth, how appropriate that you gave a Heinz '57 lecture in my home
> > town, Pittsburgh.
>
> Yeah, I think that's why it was picked for that conference <g>. Of course,
> amid all the pickles Heinz provided for everyone's badges, somebody did ask
> if the company considered the title a copyright infringement. They didn't.
>
> >Another reason not to narrow one's search based on such categories is
> >that there may be some surprises in your family tree. A person who was
> >born Black but passing as white might have incorporated a bigoted
> >attitude against Blacks as part of the disguise.
>
> Very true, Christine -- even though I quibble with that word "passing,"
> which is a hangover from the old "one drop" days. Most Americans are a
> mixture of various ethnic origins. For convenience, social expediency, or
> whatever, most people tend to choose one of those ethnicities for their
> self-image or legal identification. Everyone should have that right. And
> those in the past who refused to have a label forced upon them that did not
> fit their appearance should not be considered "passing," as though they were
> committing a fraud. IMO.
>
> On the other hand, you are quite right that because of societal prejudices,
> some did feel the best way to avoid being forced back into a persecuted
> minority was to adopt the bigotry of the dominant society--a trait that also
> held true for some Irish in Boston, some Italians in New York, some French
> in "Anglo" Louisiana, some Indians in Georgia, and others in just about
> every ethnic group that suffered second-class status. It's no wonder
> genealogists have so much difficulty with so many lines!
>
> Elizabeth
>
>
> ---------
> Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG
> Author, *Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian*
> Editor/Author, *Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers,
> Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians*
>
>
>
>
> ==== APG Mailing List ====
> The Association of Professional Genealogists
> http://www.apgen.org/publications/apg-l/index.html
>
>

This thread: