Passing for White by James M. O'Toole is a biography of the Healy family. Why them? The family is unique for their time. This is the nineteenth century and a white man married his slave and produced 10 children. Eight children survived.
The patriarch of the family is interesting. Michael Healy immigrated to America from Ireland and eventually landed in Georgia. He did very well. He also owned slaves and married one of them, Eliza. He wasn't religious at all and didn't bring up his children in any. But he was forward thinking. He must have been concerned about his children's future, there being half black and white. In those days, that meant that his children were all slaves.
At a young age, around seven, he sent his oldest son north to school. He chose a Quaker School. After a few years, however, a fortuitous event occurred. On a business trip, Michael Healy encountered a Catholic priest, John Fitzpatrick and the futures of his children started. Fitzpatrick told Healy about Holy Cross College. It was just starting and was looking for students. There was a preparatory high school attached to it. Also, parochial elementary schools fed into the prep school. All the boys eventually attended and followed the same path, except Michael who ran away to the sea, and Eugene who never lived up to his potential.
The oldest James and Sherwood became bishops. Patrick joined the Jesuits and became president of Georgetown University. Michael became a sea captain but drinking too much did him in. The baby of the family didn't fare well. Not much is known about him.
The three girls all became nuns. One left and got married. The other two rose to positions in their order.
I found it hard to like the Healy children. In denying their "blackness" they denied their mother and their heritage. Of course, I realize that my twenty-first-century eyes can't see what they saw, nevermind felt and thought. I'm trying very hard not to be judgemental.
And I feel very, very sorry for their mother. Her children left home around age seven, never to be seen again.
In a way, they succeeded because of the Church, but it was their father's money that financed their education. They could have converted to Catholicism and become monks. Then you would never have heard of them, again. As it was, they received the best educations in the world. They were among the best-educated priests in the USA. Yes, they were smart and earned their accolades, but Daddy paid. No money=no education.
The patriarch of the family is interesting. Michael Healy immigrated to America from Ireland and eventually landed in Georgia. He did very well. He also owned slaves and married one of them, Eliza. He wasn't religious at all and didn't bring up his children in any. But he was forward thinking. He must have been concerned about his children's future, there being half black and white. In those days, that meant that his children were all slaves.
The oldest James and Sherwood became bishops. Patrick joined the Jesuits and became president of Georgetown University. Michael became a sea captain but drinking too much did him in. The baby of the family didn't fare well. Not much is known about him.
The three girls all became nuns. One left and got married. The other two rose to positions in their order.
I found it hard to like the Healy children. In denying their "blackness" they denied their mother and their heritage. Of course, I realize that my twenty-first-century eyes can't see what they saw, nevermind felt and thought. I'm trying very hard not to be judgemental.
And I feel very, very sorry for their mother. Her children left home around age seven, never to be seen again.
In a way, they succeeded because of the Church, but it was their father's money that financed their education. They could have converted to Catholicism and become monks. Then you would never have heard of them, again. As it was, they received the best educations in the world. They were among the best-educated priests in the USA. Yes, they were smart and earned their accolades, but Daddy paid. No money=no education.
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