>>> A SECRETIVE MOTHER, A GRANDFATHER SHE HAD NEVER MET AND A FAMILY HISTORY SHE NEVER EXPECTED. GAIL COULD NOT HAVE PREDICTED WHAT SHE WOULD DISCOVER WHEN SHE DECIDED TO DIG INTO HER MOTHER'S MYSTERIOUS PAST. WATCH. >> THIS IS MY MOM AND DAD. AND AS FAR AS I KNOW, MY FATHER WENT TO HIS GRAVE NEVER KNOWING MY MOM'S SECRET. MY PARENTS MET DURING WORLD WAR II. MY MOM WAS AN ABSOLUTELY STUNNING LLY BEAUTIFUL WOMAN. MY DAD, HE HAD A GREAT SENSE OF HUMOR. HE SERVED IN THE PACIFIC. HE WAS VERY PROUD OF THAT. >> Reporter: IN 1944, AFTER THE WAR, HAROLD MARRIED OLIVEIRA FREDERICK. THEY SETTLED IN PALMA, OHIO. THROUGHOUT HER CHILDHOOD, GAIL SAID HER MOTHER MYSTIFIED HER IN SOME WAYS. >> SHE WAS METICULOUS ABOUT HER MAKEUP. SHE WOULD WEAR A LIGHT FOUNDATION MAKEUP TO BED AT NIGHT, WHICH I THOUGHT WAS A LITTLE STRANGE. SHE WOULD NEVER GO OUT IN THE SUN, UNLESS SHE HAD A WIDE-BRIM HAT. SHE WOULD COVER HER HANDS WITH GLOVES. DIDN'T LIKE TO BE IN THE SON. >> Reporter: BUT GAIL SAID THE BIGGEST MYSTERY WAS HER MOTHER'S SELECTIVE MEMORY WHEN TALKING ABOUT HER OWN FATHER. >> I SAID, MOM, WHEN HE WAS BORN? WHEN DID HE DIE? I DON'T KNOW. I CAN'T REMEMBER. >> Reporter: GROWING UP, GAIL NEVER SAW ONE PHOTO OF HER GRANDFATHER. FINALLY, IN 1995, WHEN SHE WAS 48, SHE DECIDED TO SEARCH FOR HIS IDENTITY, COMBING THROUGH MICROFILM. >> AT FIRST, I COULDN'T FIND HIM. THEN, I PUT IN THE 1900 LOUISIANA CENSUS RECORDS AND I SEE THE NAME. THERE ARE ALL THESE FREDERICKS IN THE SAME HOUSEHOLD. I NOTICED SOMETHING CURIOUS, NEXT TO ALL THEIR NAMES IS THE LETTER "B." I GO TO THE HEAD OF THAT COLUMN TO SEE WHAT IT STANDS FOR. AND IT SAYS RACE. I THOUGHT, "B"? DOES THAT MEAN BLACK? >> Reporter: GAIL WANTED TO CONFRONT HER MOTHER. BUT FIRST, SHE REACHED OUT TO THE STATE OF LOUISIANA, REQUESTING HER MOTHER'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE. I PRETENDED I WAS MY MOTHER AND I LOST MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE. I OPENED THAT BIRTH CERTIFICATE AND IN THE PARENTHESES, THERE WAS COL. AND I SAID, MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE SAID COL, CAN YOU EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT THAT MEANS? THEY SENT ME A VERY OFFICIAL LETTER BACK AND SAID, COL IS FOR COLORED. I WAS SPEECHLESS. I DIDN'T KNOW IF MY MOTHER KNEW. I AM THINKING, HOW COULD SHE NOT KNOW THIS? AND WHY HAS SHE NEVER SAID ANYTHING TO ME? >> WE'RE JOINED BY GAIL WHO HAS WRITTEN ABOUT HER MOTHER'S SECRET PAST IN A NEW BOOK "WHITE LIKE HER." THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE. >> THANK YOU VERY MUCH. >> YOU DID WORK UP THE NERVE TO ASK YOUR MOTHER ABOUT THIS CERTIFICATE. YOU SAT DOWN WITH HER. YOU KNEW IT HAD TO BE FACE-TO-FACE. >> THIS IS NOT A CONVERSATION YOU HAVE ON THE TELEPHONE. >> AND YOU ASKED HER WHY SHE'S LISTED AS, QUOTE, COLORED ON THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE. >> I DID. I TOLD HER, I FOUND A BERTH CERTIFICATE. IT SAID COLORED. SHE BECAME VERY INDIGNANT WITH ME. SHE SAID, I DON'T KNOW WHAT BIRTH CERTIFICATE YOU HAVE, BUT MINE SAYS I'M WHITE. I SAID, WAIT A MINUTE. I HAVE OTHER KUDOCUMENTS I CAN SHOW YOU. THE CENSUS RECORDS, YOUR FATHER IS LISTED AS BLACK. AND I HAVE A LETTER FROM THE STATE OF LOUISIANA SAYING THAT COL MEANS COLORED. SHE GOT VERY QUIET. VERY QUIET. AND SHE IS SITTING IN THIS LARGE CHAIR. IT SEEMED LIKE THE CHAIR WAS SWALLOWING HER. SHE LOOKED AT ME AND SAID, YOU HAVE TO PROMISE ME YOU WILL NEVER TELL ANYONE UNTIL AFTER I DIE. AND THEN, SHE SAID, HOW WILL I HOLD MY HEAD UP WITH MY FRIENDS IF THEY KNOW? >> WOW. WHAT YEAR WAS THAT? >> THAT WAS 1997, WHEN I CONFRONTED HER. >> SO, SHE HAD SPENT HER ADULT LIFE PASSING, A TERM YOU USE IN THE BOOK. >> YES. >> CAN YOU TELL THE AUDIENCE WHAT THAT IS? >> SHE WAS PASSING FOR WHITE. MY MOTHER, IF YOU LOOK AT THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF HER, SHE VISUALLY LOOKS WHITE. ON THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE AND IN THE CENSUS RECORD, SHE IS LISTED AS COLORED OR BLACK. WHEN SHE DECIDED TO MARRY MY FATHER, WHO BY THE WAY, IS WHITE, SHE MOVED NORTH TO OHIO AND FROM THAT MOMENT ON, SHE TOOK ON THE WHITE RACE THAT SHE PASSED. SHE WENT FROM BEING DESIGNATED BLACK TO BEING DESIGNATED WHITE. >> YOU WRITE IN THE BOOK ABOUT THAT MOMENT THAT YOU SAW COL AND KNEW IT TO BE COLORED. AND WRITE ABOUT THE DAY I FOUND OUT I WASN'T WHO I THOUGHT I WAS. WHAT DID YOU GO THROUGH UPON THIS REALIZATION? >> THE INITIAL DISCOVERY WAS 1995 WHEN I WAS AT THE FAMILY HISTORY CENTER. I ALWAYS THINK ABOUT THIS. I WALKED INTO THAT FAMILY HISTORY CENTER A WHITE WOMAN. TOTALLY CONVINCED I WAS A WHITE WOMAN. AND I WALKED OUT OF THERE AND I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS. I DIDN'T KNOW IF I WAS MIXED RACE, IF I WAS BLACK, IF I WAS STILL WHITE. I HAD NO IDEA. IT WAS SHOCKING TO ME. YOU KNOW, LIKE FINDING OUT YOU'RE ANOTHER PERSON THAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW. >> RIGHT. AND YOUR MOM IS ANOTHER PERSON. I KNOW YOU WRITE IN THE BOOK ABOUT HOW YOU FEEL NOW IN RETROSPECT. SHE LEFT CLUES FOR YOU. LIKE LITTLE BREAD CRUMBS THROUGH THE FOREST. WE'RE GOING THE TALK ABOUT WHAT SOME OF THOSE WERE ALONG WITH THE FACT THAT GAIL SAYS HER OWN
So they just gloss over the fact that she pretended to be her mother to get a copy of her birth certificate?
The second part with the mixed-race family members: https://youtu.be/UJEOwn0EUVk
Don't look at the comments guys.
I am on mobile and don't want to use up data on YouTube. However, just based on the title of the video, I have to say you can't "pass" for something you are. If the woman is half white or whatever and she's identified as white by most people and she herself identifies herself as white, then what's the problem?
If it's a problem, then we should be calling Obama just another white president. The idea that "passing" only works in one direction doesn't make sense.
Finally, if she were east Asian, born and raised in an east Asian country and then came to the US and called herself white, you could make a case for "passing."