Category: United States

  • ‘Are you African-American?’ All In With Chris Hayes MSNBC 2015-06-12 Chris Hayes, Host Lacey Schwartz, a film-maker who grew up in a white family then discovered that her biological father was black, shares her unique perspective on Rachel Dolezal, the head of the Spokane NAACP whose estranged parents claim is misrepresenting herself as black. Watch…

  • Passing in reverse: What does an NAACP leader’s case say about race? The Washington Post 2015-06-12 Krissah Thompson, Staff Writer Passing in this country has usually operated in one direction: black skin passing for white, marginalization traded for privilege, the burden of the minority cast off. Until now. Enter Rachel Dolezal, 37, the head of…

  • Whites pass for black to gain empathy, experts say in wake of Dolezal case USA Today 2015-06-13 Melanie Eversley, Breaking News Reporter In history and in many black American families, there’s talk of black people passing for white, especially during the days of Jim Crow laws or slavery when it benefited them or even saved…

  • The Story of a White Woman Who Turned Herself Black and Went to Live and Work in Harlem and Mississippi Delta.

  • NAACP Statement On Rachel Dolezal National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 2015-06-12 Baltimore, MD – For 106 years, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has held a long and proud tradition of receiving support from people of all faiths, races, colors and creeds. NAACP Spokane Washington Branch President Rachel Dolezal…

  • N.A.A.C.P. Leader Rachel Dolezal Posed as Black, Parents Say The New York Times 2015-06-12 Daniel Victor The parents of a civil rights activist in Spokane, Wash., say their daughter has misrepresented herself as black for years, spurring a growing discussion on social media about race and identity. Rachel Dolezal, 37, the president of the N.A.A.C.P.…

  • ‘Mislaid,’ by Nell Zink Sunday Book Review The New York Times 2015-06-04 Walter Kirn Agata Nowicka Zink, Nell, Mislaid: A Novel (New York: Ecco/HarperCollins, 2015). 242 pages. Toward the middle of Nell Zink’s “Mislaid,” a screwball comic novel of identity, Karen, a Southern white girl whose lesbian mother has raised her as black for complicated…

  • How Census Race Categories Have Changed Over Time Pew Research Center 2015-06-10 Explore the different race, ethnicity and origin categories used in the U.S. decennial census, from the first one in 1790 to the latest count in 2010. The category names often changed in a reflection of current politics, science and public attitudes. For example,…

  • Pew: Multiracial Americans Now Make Up 7% Of Population Wisconsin Public Radio Thursday, 2015-06-11, 16:35 CDT Aliya Saperstein, Assistant Professor of Sociology Stanford University Jennifer Sims, Adjunct Visiting Professor of Sociology University of Wisconsin, River Falls According to Census data, only about 2 percent of Americans consider themselves to be multiracial, but a new report…

  • Report Says Census Undercounts Mixed Race The New York Times 2015-06-11 Richard Pérez-Peña, National Desk The number of American adults with mixed-race backgrounds is three times what official census figures indicate, and the figure is rising fast, according to a survey released Thursday. But most do not call themselves multiracial. The Pew Research Center survey…