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Walter White and Passing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2005

Kenneth R. Janken
Kenneth R. Janken
Affiliation:
Department of African and Afro-American Studies, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
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Abstract

Walter White, the blond, blue-eyed Atlantan, was a voluntary Negro, that is, an African American who appears to be White but chooses to live in the Black world and identify with its experiences. He joined the NAACP national leadership in 1918 as assistant secretary and became secretary in 1931, serving at this post until his death in 1955. His tenure was marked by an effective public antilynching campaign and organizational stability and growth during the Depression years and by controversy over his leadership style. For him, posing as a Caucasian—and then telling all who would listen about his escapades—had three interrelated purposes. First, he developed inside information about mob psychology and mob violence, publicity of which was critical to the NAACP's campaign against lynching. Second, White hoped to show Whites in particular the fallacy of racial stereotyping and racial categorization. Third, by emphasizing the dangers he courted—and even embellishing on them—he enhanced his racial bona fides at key times when his Black critics called into question his leadership.

Keywords

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)Walter WhitePassingRace LeadershipLynching Investigations
Type
STATE OF THE DISCIPLINE
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , March 2005 , pp. 17 - 27
Copyright
© 2005 W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research

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