Theophilus John McKee (September 29, 1879 — August 4, 1948) was a partially

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

attorney in the prominent

Syphax family The Syphax family is a prominent American family in the Washington, DC area. A part of the African-American upper class, the family is descended from Charles Syphax and Mariah Carter Syphax, both born into slavery. She was the daughter of an ens ...

. He lived most of his life as a Euro-American, but revealed his African ancestry late in life to obtain an inheritance.

Biography

He was born Theophilus John Syphax to

Douglas Syphax Douglas Syphax (1842 – 4 February 1890) or Douglass Syphax was an African American from Virginia who resettled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania after the American Civil War. A military veteran, he was active in the Grand Army of the Republic in the ...

and Abbie (McKee) Syphax in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania. His maternal grandfather was Colonel John McKee, an African-American property speculator and Civil War veteran. Syphax was of mixed-race and light-skinned. At the age of 22, in 1902, he decided to pass as white in order to evade

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

constraints. He disassociated himself from his family. In June 1904, Theophilus John Syphax legally changed his name to T. John McKee and began living within Euro-American society. He became friends with influential people, including lawyers and judges. In 1905 he applied for and was accepted to

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

's law school. McKee worked as a commercial attorney on

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...

for the next 40 years. He married Anna Lois Dixon, a Euro-American woman from upstate

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. They settled in New York City and had two sons: T. John McKee, Jr. in 1910, and Douglas Dixon McKee in 1911. They attended

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

and

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

, respectively. McKee hid his African-American ancestry from his wife and children. After his marriage to Anna Dixon ended in divorce, McKee married another Euro-American woman. He continued to conceal his Afrocan-American ancestry. McKee and his wife lived on Manhattan's East Side. After his sons finished college, they resettled in upstate New York near their mother. McKee had to reveal his secret when he tried to claim an inheritance. In 1946, McKee's first cousin,

Henry McKee Minton Henry McKee Minton (25 December 1870 - 29 December 1946) was an African-American doctor who was one of the founders of Sigma Pi Phi and was Superintendent of the Mercy Hospital of Philadelphia for twenty-four years. Early years Henry McKee Minto ...

, died. McKee was the last surviving grandchild of the Syphax-McKee family from

. It was subsequently reported in a ''New York Post'' article on March 25, 1948, that, although McKee had been accepted as a Euro-American man for 45 years, he was the African-American grandson of Civil War veteran Col. John McKee. Syphax/McKee died of heart failure on August 4, 1948.

Biography

Further reading