Category: Articles

  • What the 1920s Tell Us About Dolezal and Racial Illogic The Chronicle of Higher Education 2015-06-19 Carla Kaplan, Stanton W. and Elisabeth K. Davis Distinguished Professor of American Literature Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts Carla Kaplan is author of Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance (Harper, 2013). What does it mean…

  • U.S. ‘Not Cured’ of Racism, Obama Says, Citing Slavery’s Legacy The New York Times 2015-06-22 Michael D. Shear, White House Correspondent Christine Hauser, Reporter WASHINGTON — Just days after nine black parishioners were killed in a South Carolina church, President Obama said the legacy of slavery still “casts a long shadow” on American life, and…

  • Misty Copeland: meet the ballerina who rewrote the rules of colour, class and curves The Telegraph 2015-06-21 Jane Mulkerrins Facing opposition about her race, shape, even her hair, the ballet dancer Misty Copeland battled the establishment – and her own mother – to make it to the top Misty Copeland can pinpoint the precise moment…

  • An open letter to President Obama: This is a moral emergency Jewish Journal 2015-06-19 Todd Samuel Presner, Professor and Director, Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies University of California, Los Angeles Dear President Barack Obama, I appreciate your comments on the “heartache and the sadness and the anger” that many Americans are feeling after…

  • From Ferguson to Charleston and Beyond, Anguish About Race Keeps Building The New York Times 2015-06-20 Lydia Polgreen, Johannesburg Bureau Chief Ferguson. Baltimore. Staten Island. North Charleston. Cleveland. Over the past year in each of these American cities, an unarmed black male has died at the hands of a police officer, unleashing a torrent of…

  • Emil Guillermo: Rachel Dolezal, Dylann Roof, and Father’s Day Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund 2015-06-20 Emil Guillermo Rachel Dolezal nearly wrecked everyone’s Father’s Day. You don’t often see a daughter outed so publicly by her white father for passing as an African American, but I guess post-racial filial love isn’t necessarily unconditional. I…

  • Charleston and the Age of Obama The New Yorker 2015-06-19 David Remnick, Editor Between 1882 and 1968, the year Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated, three thousand four hundred and forty-six black men, women, and children were lynched in this country—a practice so vicious and frequent that Mark Twain was moved, in 1901, to write…

  • ‘Lightskin Guys Be Like…’ BlogbyBilal: Living in NW London my whole life until I was whisked away by magic pumpkin chariot into Cambridge for the fairy tale years of my life – my ramblings of my tour of the North. 2015-06-18 Bilal Harry Khan “Lightskin boys be so moist” “Those guys are bare in their…

  • Census considers new approach to asking about race – by not using the term at all Pew Research Center 2015-06-18 D’Vera Cohn, Senior Writer/Editor Possible 2020 census race/Hispanic question for online respondents, who would click to the next screen to choose more detailed sub-categories such as “Cuban” or “Chinese.” Credit: U.S. Census Bureau The Census…

  • Study illuminates why multiracial Americans almost never call themselves white Vox 2015-06-15 Jenée Desmond-Harris Look up any article about President Obama that focuses on his role as the first black president. Go ahead, do it now. Scroll down to the comments. I promise you, you’ll find earnest inquiries asking why the president is considered black…