Is Rachel Dolezal the first known transracial person?

[Beacool]

69. No, she isn't.

Here's the story of one man, Clarence King.

Clarence Rivers King (1842-1901) was an American geologist, mountaineer, and author. He served as the first director of the United States Geological Survey from 1879 to 1881. King was noted for his exploration of the Sierra Nevada.

Common law marriage and passing as African-American

King spent his last thirteen years leading a double life. In 1887 or 1888, he met and fell in love with Ada Copeland, an African-American nursemaid (and former slave) from Georgia, who had moved to New York City in the mid-1880s. As miscegenation was strongly discouraged in the nineteenth century (and illegal in many places), King hid his identity from Copeland. Despite his blue eyes and fair complexion, King convinced Copeland that he was an African-American Pullman porter named James Todd. The two entered into a common law marriage in 1888. Throughout the marriage, King never revealed his true identity to Ada, pretending to be Todd, a black railroad worker, when at home, and continuing to work as King, a white geologist, when in the field. Their union produced five children, four of whom survived to adulthood. Their two daughters married white men; their two sons served classified as blacks during World War I. King finally revealed his true identity to Copeland in a letter he wrote to her while on his deathbed in Arizona.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_King


A book was written about his life. It's called "Passing Strange".

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594202001?ie=UTF8&tag=viglink20265-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1594202001&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2