Black Soldier Refuses to Pass as White

“You don’t have to pass as a Negro in California. If you aren’t black you can pass for anything.”

Oct. 31, 1919: A fascinating glimpse of African American life in Los Angeles surfaces in divorce proceedings. A black soldier says he sent his wife money to buy a home in Los Angeles, which was segregated at that time. Instead of locating in an African American area, she bought a house in a white neighborhood, passing as white and telling her husband that he could pass as a Mexican or some other ethnicity. He said: “I don't desire to pass for other than I am.” A Senate committee endorses a bill that would deport about 500 men and four women held as enemy aliens during World War I.  People in custody include spies, anarchists, revolutionary radicals and convicted criminals, The Times says.