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Albert C. Johnston (born 1900/1901 – June 23, 1988)[1] was a doctor described as part-black and of mixed parentage[1] who, along with his family, passed as white in Gorham and then Keene, New Hampshire. William Lindsay White wrote a Reader's Digest article about the family and a short book was published from it in 1948 titled, Lost Boundaries. A year later in 1949, a film was adapted from the book about the family was released, though changing the names of all involved and key elements were altered and made up.[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 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and radiologist in Gorham and Keene, New Hampshire.[3] He entered the Navy as a commissioned officer but the offer was rescinded; he eventually uncovered that the decision was due to his ethnic background.[3]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] After working in Keene until the mid-1960s, Johnston Sr moved to the island of Kauai 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]
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.[7] 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 .[8]
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