The Healy family of Georgia became notable in U.S. history because three of their children achieved significant firsts as African Americans in the United States during the second half of the 19th century. Born in Jones County, Georgia to Mary Eliza and Michael Morris Healy, the children were of both Irish-American and African American heritage. In an era preceding the American Civil War when it was unlawful to educate them in Georgia, they benefited from their parent's ability to obtain an education for them in Northern states. They attended a combination of Quaker and later Catholic schools in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Canada.

Of the nine who lived to adulthood, three of the boys became ordained Catholic priests and educators. All three girls became nuns, one of whom also attained a rank of Mother Superior and was a noted educator as well. Another son joined the United States Revenue Cutter Service, a predecessor of the U.S. Coast Guard, and achieved notability serving for more than 20 years along the 20,000 mile coastline of the newly acquired Territory of Alaska. Three of the Healy children have various buildings, awards and a ship named for them. The former site of the Healy family's plantation near Macon, Georgia is now called Healy Point and includes the Healy Point Country Club.

Under the common criteria in the United States which came to be known as the One drop rule, all of the children were African American. However, the complexions of the children varied. Accounts of whether they were regarded as African-American, could "pass for white", or other handling of their racial heritage has generated interest in historians and those studying sociology. The roles of some of the Catholic church officials has also generated interest. In 2003, the University of Massachusetts Press published Passing for White: Race, Religion, and the Healy Family, 1820-1920. The book by James M. O'Toole, a professor of history at Boston College, explores many of those issues.