Should you tell: True Account of a Murder, household secrets and the Unbreakable Sisterhood Accord

The history of racial "passing" in the US, or the choice to pass for white in the face of extreme prejudice and violent racism, is sporadically recorded. Instead of being formally recorded, it is typically kept by families. Of course, the decision's secrecy is one factor. In addition, due to the end of slavery in America in 1865 as well as the way census data was maintained over time, black American families may generally find it difficult to trace their family history.

In some circumstances, "passing" merely involved failing to correct others when they made an incorrect assumption about your race. Others, like Ellen and William Craft, a married couple who fled from southern Georgia to the North in the middle of the 1800s, entailed complex plans in a desperate attempt to find freedom and safety. William passed as her servant, and Ellen pretended to be a white guy.

Author of Identity and How Our Social Environment Changes Us, Selfless: The Social Creation of You, Brian Lowery is a social psychologist at Stanford University. Racial passing, according to him, is a vague idea that refers to the act of going out into the world and letting other people perceive you as someone other than who you are. It could also refer to what race you identify with.