L> 1949	Women Who

Negro doctor to officiate and she was
obliged to have an interne. I shall al-
ii ways feel that, because of her color,
everything medically possible wasn’t
done for her.”

The cousin’s death, coming right
after the job loss, led to deep depres-
sion for Gladys. She would have con-
tinued to mope except for the fact
that she received a note from her col-
lege beau, Jerry. He, too, was in New
York and wanted to visit her. Gladys
felt that Jerry, who is as fair of skin
as she, would understand her mixed
feelings. She was right. His specialty
is business administration, and as
* soon as he had admitted he was col-
ored he had been fired, not from one
job but from two. He had grown as
, despondent as Gladys.

Jerry and Gladys talked of just two
subjects—getting married and “pass-
ing.” They knew that science had
• long ago exploded the myth of the
unexpected black baby. No child is
born any darker than his darker par-
ent. That meant their children would
surely Zoo^ white. They weighed the
pros and cons of passing.

“When it came to having a nice
home and decent medical care and
happy children who would receive,
without question or legal fights, the
benefits of our country, we took the
’ step,” Gladys said.

Pass As White	45

Jerry went to the city where I had
met Gladys and he secured a good
job with a nationally known com-
pany. Then each of them returned
home and said goodby to their par-
ents. “That was the hardest,” said
Gladys.

They met again in New York City
to be married at the Municipal
Building. There they finally crossed
the line, for on the marriage license,
opposite “Color,” Jerry for the first
time wrote their lie: “White.”

They now own a small house on
the outskirts of their new city. Jerry
is a Rotarian; Gladys has her weekly
bridge club and is an active member
of her church. Their two children,
a boy and a girl, will, when they are
old enough, attend the best schools.
When people ask about their back-
grounds, Gladys and Jerry try to
change the subject, though, in a
pinch, Gladys says they come from
the South and their parents are dead.

When anyone comments on her
becoming, perennial tan, she non-
chalantly points to the sun lamp she
keeps in her dressing room. Jerry
earns a fat salary and Gladys can af-
ford a maid. There is her one hitch:
Most of the local help is colored, and
Gladys will not hire a Negro. “May-
be,” she admits, “because I’m afraid
of being found out.”

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• A woman telephoned the doctor frantically: “Please come over quickly! My
husband is in terrible pain. It’s his head. He’s had it on and off all day
and right now he’s sitting and holding it in his hands between his knees.”

—Healthways