"Passing" I

Anita Florence Hemmings graduated from Vassar in 1897. But though she was an excellent student, she came very close to not getting her degree at all. That was because just days before graduation, Anita’s roommate uncovered her deepest secret.

In a school that would never have considered admitting a black student, Anita Hemmings had for four years covered up the fact that she was of African American ancestry.

In other words, Anita Hemmings was a black woman who was passing for white, and it almost got her kicked out of Vassar on the very eve of her graduation.
https://owlcation.com/humanities/Anita-Florence-Hemmings-Passing-For-White-At-Vassar

Anita Hemmings was apparently the granddaughter of slaves in Virginia. She lived with her parents in Roxboro MA and with the encouragement of a wealthy white woman (who also paid for her education) applied to Vassar. She easily passed the entrance exam and was an excellent student throughout her four years there. During her senior year, she was visited by her brother (who as a student at MIT--this was a brilliant family), whose skin was darker than her own. Her roommate told her father that to her horror she thought she had been living with a black woman. The father investigated and easily found out that Anita's family was indeed black. This fact was revealed to the president of the college just days before Anita was to graduate, and she was threatened with having her diploma withheld. A sympathetic teacher and the president ruled that since there was no rule against black women attending Vassar (I guess it was so unthinkable a rule wasn't deemed necessary), Anita would graduate with her class.

She went on to work in the Boston Public Library as a foreign materials cataloger (she knew seven languages, including ancient Greek) and married a physician.

Their daughter applied to Vassar and was admitted. Incredibly, Anita's roommate from her college days reported to the president of Vassar that there was a black woman in the class. The president refused to expel her, but the young woman was given a single dormitory room, so no fine white lady would have to share a bedroom with a "negress."