At the turn of the 20th Century, the United States was still very much segregated. Laws were prevalent in the South to keep Blacks and Whites from intermixing. Racism led to informally practiced separation of races in the North.
When Belle Marion Greener’s mother answered a census taker’s questions with a race status of White for herself and her light-skinned children in 1905, it set them on a path to “pass” as White. As a result, Belle’s name was changed to Belle da Costa Greene, the “r” removed to separate her from her African-American activist father and the “da Costa” added to explain her olive-colored complexion with a mysterious Portuguese ancestry.
As a result of passing for White, doors were open for Belle that would have previously been closed. She worked at the Princeton University Library and had made the acquaintance of J. Pierpont Morgan’s nephew, Junius. When Morgan was working on making his own private library, Junius recommended Belle to his uncle for her impeccable skills. Eventually she became Morgan’s private librarian, using her passion for items of historical significance to amass an amazing collection of rare books and manuscripts. Highly respected by those with whom she dealt, Belle curated a library beyond compare while managing a staff to properly preserve the collection.
Belle continued to direct the library after Morgan’s death when his son took over, eventually establishing the Pierpont Morgan Library for public use (now called The Morgan Library & Museum). She served as the library’s director for another twenty-four years until her retirement. Her background as a Black woman was not revealed until 1999 when a researcher working on a biography about Morgan pulled up Belle’s birth certificate which included a “C” on it, meaning “colored.”
I first learned of Belle in the historical fiction novel The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. It is a fascinating view of what it might have been like to pass as White, as well as curate such an incredible collection of antiques while mixing with those icons of the Gilded Age. You may purchase the book here, along with any others I recommend for Women’s History Month. This is an affiliate link; thank you for supporting my work.
Additionally, here is a short but interesting video about an exhibit that recently closed at the Morgan Library.