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Passing for White: Race, Religion, and the Healy Family, 1820-1920
Through the prism of one family's experience, this book explores questions of racial identity, religious tolerance, and black-white "passing" in America. Spanning the century from 1820 to 1920, it tells the story of Michael Morris Healy, a white Irish immigrant planter in Georgia; his African American slave Eliza Clark Healy, who was also his wife; and their nine children. Legally slaves, these brothers and sisters were smuggled north before the Civil War to be educated. In spite of the hardships imposed by American society on persons of mixed racial heritage, the Healy children achieved considerable success. Rejecting the convention that defined as black anyone with "one drop of Negro blood," they were able to transform themselves into white Americans. Their unlikely ally in this transition was the Catholic church, as several of them became priests or nuns. One brother served as a bishop in Maine, another as rector of the Cathedral in Boston, and a third as president of Georgetown University. Of the two sisters who became nuns, one was appointed the superior of convents in the United States and Canada. Another brother served for twenty years as a captain in the U.S. Coast Guard, enforcing law and order in the waters off Alaska. The Healy children's transition from black to white should not have been possible according to the prevailing understandings of race, but they accomplished it with apparent ease. Relying on their abilities, and in most cases choosing celibacy, which precluded mixed-race offspring, they forged a place for themselves. They also benefited from the support of people in the church and elsewhere. Even those white Americans who knew the family's background chose to overlook their African ancestry and thereby help them to "get away" with passing. By exploring the lifelong struggles of the members of the Healy family to redefine themselves in a racially polarized society, this book makes a distinctive contribution to our understanding of the enduring dilemma of race in America.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 9, 2019
I first heard about the Healy family in a grad school class taught by the author. He shared some of his research for the book which he published a year after I finished my masters degree. Now 18+ years after taking that course I *finally* got a copy of this book and read it.
The Healy family consisted of 9 children born to an Irish Catholic Georgia planter and how common law slave wife Eliza. Unlike most children of such unions in the slave South, Michael Morris Healy claimed these children and his "good woman Eliza" and made provisions for his children to escape the fate of servitude by arranging for education in the North and essential adoption by the Catholic community there.
Three of the sons and two of the daughters who lived into adulthood chose religious vocations, and the institution of the Church essentially sheltered them from racial questioning. Shielded by the high status of their bishop brothers those who did not take on religious orders still managed to enter the white community. Those who married had white spouses.
O'Toole argues using his thorough research and important societal context what a feat it was for these siblings to accomplish what they did, this also Illuminating racial attitudes of the 19th century. It's an interesting look at race that raises important questions over 100 years after the last Healy sibling died.
The Healy family consisted of 9 children born to an Irish Catholic Georgia planter and how common law slave wife Eliza. Unlike most children of such unions in the slave South, Michael Morris Healy claimed these children and his "good woman Eliza" and made provisions for his children to escape the fate of servitude by arranging for education in the North and essential adoption by the Catholic community there.
Three of the sons and two of the daughters who lived into adulthood chose religious vocations, and the institution of the Church essentially sheltered them from racial questioning. Shielded by the high status of their bishop brothers those who did not take on religious orders still managed to enter the white community. Those who married had white spouses.
O'Toole argues using his thorough research and important societal context what a feat it was for these siblings to accomplish what they did, this also Illuminating racial attitudes of the 19th century. It's an interesting look at race that raises important questions over 100 years after the last Healy sibling died.
August 16, 2018
Last decade I remember thinking, “Why would anyone want to revisit the story of the Healy family?” I felt like the Healy stories had already been told by Albert S. Foley, SJ, a scholar and activist whose career I knew very well. The Healys were nine offspring of a natural marriage between plantation owner, Michael Healy, and his slave Eliza. Healy took great pains to circumvent Georgia laws that would have doomed his children to be slaves after his own death. He managed to get them all educated in the North. Three of them became Catholic priests, two of them became Catholic nuns, and the others married and had offspring, so that by the next generation the Healy family had successfully covered up that it had any African blood at all. Foley had devoted a book to each of the sons who became Catholic priests, including Bishop Healy: Beloved Outcaste (1954) that became a Catholic bestseller.
Well, it only took a few pages for Professor O’Toole’s book, Passing for White: Race, Religion, and the Healy Family (2002) to convince me that I needed to rethink the Healy family and the books that had been written about them.
O’Toole depicted most clearly how difficult it was for the Healy offspring to successfully pass for white, even in New York, Boston, and Montreal, the cities where they had their earliest schooling. O’Toole explained convincingly how the religious vocations of the three males and two (almost three) females was all tied up in their individual quests to pass the color bar at almost any price. Since their slave ancestry would have been most obvious when they were all seen together as a group, it is truly amazing how close they remained as a family once their parents were deceased.
The Healys took advantage of every educational opportunity that the Catholic Church had to offer. They also had the benefit of prelates in Boston who actively encouraged their vocations and even smoothed out obstacles that would have prevented the males from entering the Catholic priesthood. When they entered service in a diocese, they were already more educated than most clergy. One of the darkest (most obviously giving evidence of African blood) was Alexander Sherwood Healy, who managed to earn doctorates in canon law and moral theology before starting his duties in the diocese of Boston. Everyone recognized his superior ability at preaching, choral direction, administration, and he eventually became pastor of one of the largest parishes in Reconstruction-era Boston.
I came to realize that Foley’s books had focused on the three priests, to the exclusion of the younger siblings. O’Toole showed how successful all the members of the family eventually became and how each family member embraced choices that would protect them from stigma in that age of having African blood in their veins. This is a work of superb scholarship, but I found it a compelling read as well.
Well, it only took a few pages for Professor O’Toole’s book, Passing for White: Race, Religion, and the Healy Family (2002) to convince me that I needed to rethink the Healy family and the books that had been written about them.
O’Toole depicted most clearly how difficult it was for the Healy offspring to successfully pass for white, even in New York, Boston, and Montreal, the cities where they had their earliest schooling. O’Toole explained convincingly how the religious vocations of the three males and two (almost three) females was all tied up in their individual quests to pass the color bar at almost any price. Since their slave ancestry would have been most obvious when they were all seen together as a group, it is truly amazing how close they remained as a family once their parents were deceased.
The Healys took advantage of every educational opportunity that the Catholic Church had to offer. They also had the benefit of prelates in Boston who actively encouraged their vocations and even smoothed out obstacles that would have prevented the males from entering the Catholic priesthood. When they entered service in a diocese, they were already more educated than most clergy. One of the darkest (most obviously giving evidence of African blood) was Alexander Sherwood Healy, who managed to earn doctorates in canon law and moral theology before starting his duties in the diocese of Boston. Everyone recognized his superior ability at preaching, choral direction, administration, and he eventually became pastor of one of the largest parishes in Reconstruction-era Boston.
I came to realize that Foley’s books had focused on the three priests, to the exclusion of the younger siblings. O’Toole showed how successful all the members of the family eventually became and how each family member embraced choices that would protect them from stigma in that age of having African blood in their veins. This is a work of superb scholarship, but I found it a compelling read as well.
June 16, 2017
Very interesting story, great research. Couldn't help feeling sorry for the mother, who saw all of her kids leave when they were about 5 or 6, and never saw them again. Remarkable family who did what they had to to survive, I guess.
November 22, 2024
Very well written account of an amazing family. Nine children (father a wealthy planter in Georgia, mother a black woman) born in Georgia before the Civil War. Sent north for their education and to escape slavery.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2009
Passing for White is the unique tale of the children of a wealthy Irish Georgia planter and his common-law slave wife, who are sent north before the Civil War. Black and slave by the standards of the day, their father's decision allows them to be raised in a Catholicism that establishes an alternate identity. No longer black or slave, they are Catholics. It is an identity they embrace completely as they "pass" for white and the problems of their racial identity are overcome by their tenacity, ability, and their powerful friends. Three of the boys become priests and the two who survive past forty become a bishop and president of Georgetown University respectively. Many details are missing of the complete stories of the nine children, but the stories that remain are compelling. Their Catholicism allowed them to "become" white (according to legal records and the surprise of their descendents when told of slave ancestory), but neither that Catholicism or their passing encouraged them to identify or even sympathize with the African-American population.
May 28, 2007
I read this book in grad school. Mainly because my advisor wrote it and I thought it would be a good idea to read it before my comps. No bias here but JO'T is a really good writer and weaves a good tale. The implications of which are- (1) what is race? (2) what role did the Catholic Church play in "passing for white"? It's the story of a big Irish family and the mother happens to be a former slave. As I recall, the book was constructed completely based on archival research (I don't think there were any interviews done). Great read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews