Albert C. Johnston

Albert C. Johnston (August 17, 1900 – June 23, 1988)^[1] was an American doctor. Described as part-black and of multiracial parentage^[1] Johnston and his family, passed as white while living in Gorham and Keene, New Hampshire.

William Lindsay White wrote a Reader's Digest article about the Johnston family and a short book was published from it in 1948 titled, Lost Boundaries. In 1949, a film of the same name was adapted from the book, though changing the names of all involved and key elements were altered and made up.^[2] Except for supporting cast members, white actors were used for the film.^[2] In 1989 a follow-up film, Lost Boundaries Reunion was made with interviews of family members.^[3] Johnston was from Chicago and studied at Rush Medical College. He interned at Maine General Hospital.^[4] Johnston had trouble finding work but was eventually secured employment as a doctor by passing as white. He was a country doctor and radiologist in New Hampshire.^[3] He entered the Navy as a commissioned officer but the offer was rescinded; he eventually learned that the decision was due to the discovery of his ethnic background.^[3]

Johnston's son, Albert C. Johnston Jr., one of four children, composed music including songs used in the film about the family.^[3] After working in Keene until the mid-1960s, Johnston Sr. moved to Kaua'i and worked as a radiologist at Wilcox Memorial Hospital; he died at the age of 87 at Castle Medical Center after being treated for chest congestion. He was buried in Keene.^[5][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]