Albert C. Johnston

Albert C. Johnston (died 1988)[1] was a doctor who, along with his family, passed as white in Gorham and then Keene, New Hampshire. William Lindsay White wrote a Readers Digest article about the family and a short book was published from it in 1948. In 1949 a film adapted from the book about the family was released. Both the film and book were titled Lost Boundaries and were based on the family's experiences.[2] In 1989 a follow-up film, Lost Boundaries Reunion was made with interviews of family memberd.[3]

Johnston was from Chicago and studied at Rust College. He interned at Maine General Hospital.[4] Johnston had trouble finding work but was eventually able to secure employment as a doctor by passing as white. He was a country doctor and radiologist in Gorham and Keene, New Hampshire.[3] He entered the Navy as a commissioned officer but the offer was rescinded. He eventually uncovered that the decision was a result of his ethnic background.[3]

His son, Albert C. Johnston Jr., one of four children, composed music including songs used in the film about the family.[3]Johnston Sr. retired to Hawaii.[5]

Except for supporting cast members, white actors were used for the film.[2] The film was banned in Atlanta and Memphis.

A high school student wrote about Johnston and his home in 2001.[6] In 2013, Stanford University professor Allyson Hobbs wrote about the Johnstons and their passing in her book A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing .[7]