Fade To White

With the season finale of the Fade to White Podcast, Ep. 8, "Passing," host Jill Sim wishes to give thanks to you, the listeners! See you in 2027! The Fade to White Podcast Team Jill Sim Harrison Sim Al Sim Olivia Sim

With the discovery that Dr. Andrew J. Love and Anita Hemmings are both people of color who can pass for white, Jill has to reassess past preconceptions of their relationship dynamics, and try to guess whether their passing was a deliberate choice, and why. After a car accident which prevents mobility, Jill takes the opportunity to read Black history and ponders whether there were any cultural or internalized aspects that could be considered 'Black' within herself or the family. Jill begins to

Dr. Andrew Jackson Love (1861-1948) and Anita Hemmings Love (1872-1960), c. 1938. Attributions Udry, Janice May. Mary Jo’s Grandmother (Albert Whitman & Company, 1970).   Figure of 10-12,000 people passing annually, and those who did not …

Anita Hemmings' great-granddaughter Jill Sim tells the story of Anita's experience at elite women's college Vassar, in Poughkeepsie, New York, and the fallout when it was learned before graduation that Anita had been passing for white the entire time.

Attributions  Coverage of Anita Hemmings at Vassar is taken from period newspapers found at the Boston Public Library, the Chronicling America newspaper database at the Library of Congress, Newspaperarchive.com and Newspapers.com.  “Irreproachab…

Jill Sim looks at family connections to Boston Brahmin religious circles, and a segregated church culture during the period of rapid change given by immigration waves to Boston. Within the complexities of a family’ of color’s tenuous standing in the shifting society, anti-Catholic and Irish sentiments simmer beneath ardent values of equity.