© 2024 MICHIGAN PUBLIC
91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit 104.1 Grand Rapids 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Stateside Podcast: "Passing:" Narratives of Black Americans, Living as White

Adobe Stock
Professor Sandra Gunning talks about cultural references to passing in America, and the contexts that have caused this narrative to recur, across the centuries.

For a Black person in the 19th century or the first half of the 20th, "passing" meant living part or all of your life as non-Black. Literature, films and other cultural references to passing have been around for a long time. But recent works like Rebecca Hall’s film adaptation of Nella Larsen’s book, Passing, have brought the idea of passing back to the forefront. Today on the podcast, we talk about the contexts that have caused this narrative to recur, across the centuries.

GUEST: 

Sandra Gunning, professor, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies and Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan

----

Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

Stateside’s theme music is by 14KT.

Additional music byBlue Dot Sessions.

Stay Connected
Erin Allen comes to Michigan Radio as a new producer for the station’s Stateside show. She is an experienced communicator driven by her curiosity about stories of people.