Passing Strange's love story is a black and white issue
By STEVE WEINBERG
Houston Chronicle
April 10, 2009; Philadelphia Daily News
A few years ago, historian Martha A. Sandweiss read in passing that Clarence King — a Caucasian male famous in the 19th century as a surveyor of the vast frontier and a best-selling author about the land west of the Mississippi River — lived a double life as a self-proclaimed African-American male.
During an era when many light-skinned blacks hoped to pass as white, King, who lived from 1842 to 1901, moved the other direction, passing as black for some of each year without the knowledge of his white friends.
The cause of the reverse passing? Love.
In 1888, King had met and married an African-American woman named Ada Copeland, 18 years his junior. Copeland, who had made her way to...
