#mixed-race

being white-passing mixed race feels like

It's our month!

On a bit of a more serious note, I feel as though I've been separated from my culture on account of being born and raised in America. I have often struggled with finding my cultural footing or even if I have a place within the culture on account of me being extremely mixed-race. I am a mixture of several (seemingly countless) different races and ethnic groups. Hawaiian, Filipino, and (theoretically) Chinese to name the ones that apply to this month.

’White’, indigenous and Australian : constructions of mixed identities in today’s Australia

By Delphine David 

I've been recently learning about a classic entertainer from the 1930s and ‘40s, Dona Drake. Born a woman of African and European heritage called Eunice in Florida of 1914, Dona Drake was a captivating talent and woman who had a unique old Hollywood career because of the intersections of race, color and opportunity (as well as the lack of them) amidst the old studio system. 

(Eunice Westmoreland) is born in Miami, Florida, one of five children of Joseph Andrew Westmoreland of Arkansas and his wife, Novella Smith of Alabama. Her parents are of African American descent. Studio publicity will later claim she was born in Mexico City in 1920.

(Source: Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen)

Life was good for most of Jacksonville’s residents, but not for the Westmorelands, as segregation was strictly enforced and though Dona claimed Latin heritage throughout her personal and professional career, Eunice Westmoreland was negro. Referred to as such in both 1920 and 1930 census records. Both parents were interchangeably referred to as negro and mulatto in the early 1900 censuses.

(Source: TRAVILLA'S LEGACY)

On her own, Dona did a few short films and two-reelers, sang on the airwaves and revved up her image signing on radio. Good friend Dorothy Lamour assisted in getting her signed up to Paramount, where the studio changed her name to "Dona Drake" and built up her Latino background by sending out studio resumes that she was christened Rita Novella, was of Mexican, Irish and French descent and born and raised in Mexico City. Dona's first picture for the studio was in the Dorothy Lamour vehicle Aloma of the South Seas (1941). She then pepped up the Bob Hope starrer Louisiana Purchase (1941) as well as an Arab girl in the Hope/Crosby/Lamour comedy Road to Morocco (1942). Unable to break out of her typecasting as a spicy singing support, her contract was dropped after a sparkling big band singing lead loanout to Monogram entitled Hot Rhythm (1944). Around this time she married the Oscar- and Emmy-winning costume designer William Travilla.

(Source: IMDB)

Drake became an entertainer during a time where there were few chances for women of color beyond stereotype, particularly difficult for those who fell in the racial middle and challenged preconceived notions of Blackness (I touched about this in posts I wrote on other ambiguous actresses of color, Fredi Washington and Nina Mae McKinney). 

Dona Drake went through a reinvention of her public identity and screen persona, her original background kept quiet in the attempt to pursue her ambitions, similar to the unfair pressures the lovely Anglo-Indian actress Merle Oberon went through in her own career. 

Taking advantage of the blur between racial lines in her heritage, Dona Drake played a variety of roles ranging from Indian to Arab and many more non-white (but non-Black) heritages. 

In 1949, she was spotlighted in the Bette Davis noir classic flick Beyond the Forest, as a Native American. 

Reading about her life, it becomes clear that despite the stress and difficulties she must’ve encountered regarding the burdens of racism in the film world, it did nothing to dull her exuberance. Watching some videos of Drake shows what an exciting performer she was! A triple threat, singer/actress/dancer, she grabs the viewer's attention the moment she leaps onscreen and sparkles like the star she should've become.  

It strikes me how she, like other ambiguous performers of color in this era, were veritably brimming with talent and exceptional skill but constantly had the problem of battling stereotypes and typecasting because of there being such a stark divide between the representation of Blackness and Whiteness onscreen. To be blunt, there simply was very little room for any sort of 'middle-ground' for these performers because of the image Hollywood presented of people of color in comparison to White entertainers.

I definitely want to learn more about her work and probably write a much more detailed blog post on her at some point in the future, examining some of her films. As a film buff and mixed heritage woman of African-American descent myself, these types of intruiging, rarely told Hollywood stories genuinely fascinate me...how many more of these silver screen performers we look at in these old films are part of our community? How many more were talents who little girls of color, both black and mixed-race, could've looked up to and been inspired by over the decades if only Hollywood and society in general had been more just and equal in their appreciation of talented performers of all backgrounds? One can only wonder.  

Belgium Apologizes for Kidnapping Children From African Colonies

BRUSSELS — Belgium apologized on Thursday for the kidnapping, segregation, deportation and forced adoption of thousands of children born to mixed-race couples during its colonial rule of Burundi, Congo and Rwanda.

Prime Minister Charles Michel of Belgium, center, after delivering a speech Thursday apologizing for the country’s actions toward mixed-race children in Central Africa. CreditFrancois…

ELECTRUM HAS FUNDED. The book is going to be made :’] Thank you to everyone who has backed, shared, or commented on our project! We are trying to make a change in the world by sharing our under-represented voices, and we couldn’t have done it without you ♥

Artist Feature #28 stars Electrum’s assistant editor and artist Kiku Hughes. Kiku is a Nikkei mixed-race artist from Seattle. You can find a selection of her comic work at her Tumblr, or check out her webcomic, The Sublimes.

In her comic "Misirlou," Kiku reflects on the often overlooked origin of the American surf music genre, and on finding beauty when two elements come together

We’re looking forward to sharing more of our art and artists with you~

Happy Hapa Issue #41 - Peaceful Meditation: Clear your mind...happy thoughts...forget the troubles of the world...don't think bad thoughts...oh too late.