Book excerpt: to pass for white in a segregated society, Mae felt that she was doing the opposite - choosing to assert her black identity. Passing for Black is her story, in her own words, of how she lived in this racial limbo and the obstacles it presented. As a Kentucky woman of color during a pioneering period of minority and women's rights, Mae Street Kidd seized every opportunity to get ahead. She attended a black boarding academy after high school and went on to become a.