[Pilgrim's Progress]

Some say that George Herman Ruth (the Babe) belongs on this list as well . . . he also had an interesting nickname at St. Mary’s reformatory - “N***** Lips.

[Albion Wilde]

Babe Ruth's parents were German immigrants, so it is unlikely. Probably just his appearance, which to me looks more like fetal alcohol syndrome than mixed-race.

The other person from that era of Swiss and German heritage who was thought to have some black ancestry was J. Edgar Hoover; however this theory was disputed in the Washington Post:

Obviously there was a lot of racial hysteria due to the class divide as much as any other thing in the pre-Civil Rights era.