Passing (racial identity)

In the United States of America, racial passing occurred when a person who was categorized as Black in regard to their race in the United States of America, sought to be accepted or perceived ("to pass") as a member of another racial group, usually White. Historically, the term has been used primarily in the United States to describe a black person, especially a Mulatto person who assimilated into the white majority to escape the legal and social conventions of racial segregation and discrimination. In the Antebellum South, passing as White was a temporary disguise used as a means of escaping slavery.