Passing as white causes a family splitīelle became a power in her own right, courted by art dealers, embraced by the socially powerful, profiled as an elegant careerist at a time when working women were rare.Īs the two began to work closely together, Morgan came to trust Belle's vision and expertise. As the personal librarian to financier J.P.Morgan, she pursued and curated a collection of rare books, manuscripts and art that became world-renowned.
Their heroine, Belle Da Costa Greene, was one of the most prominent career women of her time. I wouldn't be me.Īnd that, basically, is at the crux of The Personal Librarian, a new novel by Heather Terrell (writing as Marie Benedict) and Victoria Christopher Murray. At several points in childhood and as an adult, I've loved the notion of being rich, but being white? I cannot imagine it. "Deep down, all Black people want to be white." I heard that in a social psychology class, repeated as if it were a truism. From Nella Larsen's 1929 classic, Passing, to the original Imitation of Life (the 1934 movie starred the incomparable Fredi Washington as Peola, the little girl who wanted to be white) to Britt Bennett's 2020 novel The Vanishing Half, the notion of a Black person posing as white to escape her Blackness just felt. Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.I have a confession: I am not a fan of the passing trope. The Personal Librarian is the first collaboration between Benedict, the author of books such as The Other Einstein and Lady Clementine, and Murray, whose previous books include Wrath and Destiny’s Divas. It was published Tuesday by Berkley. “If Black girl magic had a name it would be Belle da Costa Greene.”Ī reviewer for Kirkus was not so enthusiastic about the novel, finding it “strangely stuffy and muted.” “She was bold and she was brilliant and she was Black,” Murray said. She died in 1950, two years after her retirement.
Greene continued her work at the library after J.P. “She hid her identity in plain sight, saying, ‘Just because I am a librarian, doesn’t mean I have to dress like one.’” Morgan in the 1900s,” Benedict told the morning show. “Belle had to pass as white when she became the powerful personal librarian to J.P. Greene is a Black woman passing as White and hopes her background isn’t revealed. Morgan’s Pierpont Morgan Library in Manhattan (now known as the Morgan Library and Museum). Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray’s The Personal Librarianis the latest pick for Good Morning America’s book club.īenedict and Murray’s novel, their first collaboration, follows Belle da Costa Greene, a Black woman who becomes the librarian for legendary financier J.P.
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