How Betty Boop Caused Trouble: “Passing” pt 1

Today, I embark on a controversial topic that I have been requested multiple times to address. I’ve hesitated to do so because the topic is as complex and vast as it is controversial and requires to be handled objectively and with fairness. This topic is “passing”.

What is “passing”? In simplistic terms, passing, or more accurately, race passing, is when a person classified as one racial group presents self as belonging to another racial group. Sometimes, the person intentionally passes, meaning it is their desire to be considered as belonging to another racial group. Other times, it may be a perceived passing. People may assume the person is of another race, although, the person never declared or intended for that to be the case. It can be more complicated than that definition, but it will serve the purpose of this post.

So, what caused me to address this topic now? Oddly enough, it was the cartoon character, Betty Boop. If that sounds crazy, it sort of is. I never thought a cartoon would lead me down this road. Yet, here I am. Here’s how it started.

There was a Facebook post about heritage and famous persons of colors who “passed for white”. The lead picture for the article was of Betty Boop. For those unfamiliar with who Betty Boop is, she’s easily searchable on the internet; therefore, I won’t go into great detail about her. However, a quick overview is that she is a cartoon caricature of a Jazz-Age flapper created in the 1930s (during the depression era) by Max Fleischer and Grim Natwick and first animated by Paramount Pictures. She was a sex symbol who provocatively was outfitted in a contoured bodice that revealed her cleavage, short dress, garter, and stilettos. Her hair was black and short, styled in what some today would call finger waves. Her head was large in comparison to her body and she had wide eyes and pouty mouth. But what does this have to do with “passing”? Absolutely nothing.

In 1932, there was a lawsuit by a Caucasian actress who claimed the cartoon character “exploited” her image and personality. However, it was revealed during the trial that the actress suiting had based her act and brand from an African American performer at the Cotton Club. Betty Boop’s creator insisted that all aspects of the character came from his imagination.

I didn’t read the FB article because I became stuck at some of the first comments posted. Therefore, I don’t know what the article said specifically about Betty Boop, and at that point, I wasn’t interested. From the start of the replies to the post, a fiery debate had sparked that the Betty Boop character was based on a real African American woman who creators “stole” her identity and developed as white as a means to gain mass appeal and acceptability for the cartoon. This was countered with a comment that there was no such thing as “passing” because if one looked “white” than one is “white”.

In this comment, I sat the plight many Creoles who have been “forced” (for the lack of a better word) to choose a racial phenotype for identity instead of being free to embrace their full heritage. It stems the “light skin” verse “dark skin” debate and who is allowed to call/consider themselves Creole. It creates accusations that Creoles are ashamed of part of their heritage and causes all types of conflict in the Creole community. It leaves many Creoles to question why a choice must be made between two when clearly the answer is a diverse, blended culture.

So, that is what has led to my writing this post. It’s not to debate which ideology is right or wrong, but rather, to present evidence of how this debate came to be. I do not delude myself. This is a broad topic, and no one article could possibly cover it all. It’s also one that will not please everyone. I do not claim to have all the answers or be an expert in this area, either. I encourage anyone interest in this topic to investigate it for themselves using multiple, credible sources. There’s a lot of bad and misinformation out there. Creole.nsula.edu, Frenchcreoles.com, Mixedheritagecenter.org, and NewOrleans.com are some great sites to get information. I will cover some of the basics.

One of the best places to start is to understand the terms, and there are a lot of them.

Octoroon/Terceron – both if these terms are used to refer to a person being three generations from an African ancestor.
Quadroon/Quarteron – a person with one-fourth African ancestry
Biracial/Mulatto – a person with one half African ancestry (note: biracial also refers to a person of two races regardless of what those races are)
Griffe/Sambo – a person with three-fourths African ancestry
Mustee – a person with one-eighth African ancestry
Hexadecaroon/Mustefino – a person with one-sixteenth African ancestry
Sacatra – a person with seven-eighths African ancestry

In the U.S., the “one drop rule” (also known as hypodescent) was used to classify race. This rule deemed exactly what it indicates. According to this “rule”, any person with African blood in their ancestry would be assigned to the race of the nonwhite parent and, thus, be perceived as a lower class. This was invoked to identify “invisible blackness” and preserved racial purity.

In terms of Creoles, this is more distressing and not solely a matter of “black” and “white”. Many Creoles have Spanish and Native American in their heritage as well. In fact, Creoles have a very diverse heritage of French, Italian, German, African, Spanish, Native American, and even Chinese. Asking many Creoles to identify themselves as one ethnicity is the equivalent of asking which body party they want to keep while all the others are severed. The demand is unfair and has nothing to do with denial or shame.

Then, if it’s not about denial or shame, why would one want to “pass”? This is a question that needs to be asked to those “passing” as the answers are bound to be multiple and complex. However, one of the most obvious reasons would be social equality—to not be treated as “less” or lower class. It’s been shown throughout history that persons of color who chose to “pass” frequently experienced more advantages and avoided the hardships of discrimination and segregation. They were not restricted in education, housing, or employment.

Again, this post tips the iceberg. I’ll likely revisit the subject with follow-up articles.

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