My co-blogger Marie Ève passed on this article from Slate. Black History Month is drawing to a close, and this seems a good way of contributing to it. A slave becomes a hero, and then is erased from history, or, more properly, whitewashed from it.

The short article, an excellent read, raises a number of questions—about what is “remembered” and “forgotten” in history, and about the companion notion of “passing,” which in this context is poignantly polysemous—a pretense, but also a transition, and therefore a leaving behind, a burial.