Category: Articles

  • The First Family: A New Glimpse of Michelle Obama’s White Ancestors The New York Times 2016-06-22 Rachel L. Swarns, Correspondent New York Times We knew that the Sunday article about Mrs. Obama’s white ancestors would stir considerable interest so we decided to invite readers to pose questions and make comments. We never imagined that one…

  • Partly Colored: Asian Americans and Racial Anomaly in the Segregated South (review) Journal of Asian American Studies Volume 15, Number 2, June 2012 pages 225-227 DOI: 10.1353/jaas.2012.0017 Jennifer Ho, Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill In her acknowledgements, Leslie Bow admits that she began her research project in…

  • Passing For What? Racial Masquerade and the Demands of Upward Mobility Callaloo Volume 21, Number 2, Spring 1998 pages 381-397 DOI: 10.1353/cal.1998.0108 Phillip Brian Harper, Erich Maria Remarque Professor of Literature; Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, English New York University Ends and Means: The Social-Critical Significance of Racial Passing in the U.S. Context The…

  • the greek Story Week Reader Story Week Reader 2011 pages 31-32 Chris “C.T.” Terry, Writer, Editor, Educator I was nervous on my first day working in the African-American Cultural Affairs section of my school’s Multicultural Office. My boss Kim introduced me to coworkers, and I imagined my blue eyes to be the subject of appraising…

  • The Language of Hairzilla SmokeLong Quarterly Issue 33 (2011-10-02) Chris Terry, Writer, Editor, Educator cover art “Sparta, NJ” by David Ohlerking   Art by Myles Karr Punk is a revelation the first time your skateboarding friend takes you to a show. You’re fifteen in saggy jeans. You watch bands emerge from the audience, lay waste…

  • Mixed race: Fastest growing demographic in Canada The Province Vancouver, British Columbia 2012-06-24 Sam Cooper …And the hardest in the world to find a match for blood cells; one in millions, literally Brutal. Intensive. Without hope. Those are words that just don’t translate when you hear the voice of 14-year-old Lourdess Sumners, of Duncan. She’s…

  • The overlapping concepts of race and colour in Latin America Ethnic and Racial Studies Volume 35, Issue 7, (July 2012) pages 1163-1168 DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2012.657209 Edward Telles, Professor of Sociology Princeton University I thank Ethnic and Racial Studies for the opportunity to participate in this symposium and I am honoured to be in conversation with Michael…

  • Using Brazil’s Racial Continuum to Examine the Short-Term Effects of Affirmative Action in Higher Education The Journal of Human Resources Volume 47, Number 3 (Summer 2012) pages 754-784 Andrew M. Francis, Assistant Professor of Economics Emory University Maria Tannuri-Pianto, Professor of Economics University of Brasilia In 2004, the University of Brasilia established racial quotas. We…

  • Terrance Hayes and Natasha Trethewey: Contemporary Black Chroniclers of the Imagined South The Southern Literary Journal Volume 44, Number 2, Spring 2012 pages 122-135 DOI: 10.1353/slj.2012.0009 William M. Ramsey, Professor of English Francis Marion University, Florence, South Carolina “I Don’t Hate the South.” — book title by Houston Baker, Jr. “The past is never dead.…

  • Slavery, Race, and Reunion: The NY Times White Washes the Rape of Michelle Obama’s Ancestors (Again) We Are Respectable Negroes 2012-06-18 Chauncey DeVega Why would any person honor rapist’s blood? In an effort to write the Obamas, who are de facto American royalty, back into a larger post-racial narrative that ostensibly makes some white folks…