Mixed Race Studies

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

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Category: Barack Obama

  • Why Obama should not have checked ‘black’ on his census form

    Why Obama should not have checked ‘black’ on his census form The Washington Post 2010-04-29 Elizabeth Chang, Sunday Magazine Editor I have always considered Barack Obama to be biracial, and I had hoped that his election would help our country move beyond the tired concept of race. Unfortunately, the president is not getting with my…

  • Obama Makes It Official: He’s African-American

    Obama Makes It Official: He’s African-American The Huffington Post 2010-04-05 Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Political Analyst and Social Issues Commentator President Obama unequivocally and unhesitatingly made it official: he’s African-American. That may sound silly and facile to say that but his checking the box “African-American” on his census form did two things. It made meaningless the…

  • Black by Choice

    Black by Choice The Nation 2010-04-15 Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies Princeton University The first black president has created a definitional crisis for whiteness. President Obama created a bit of a stir in early April when he completed his Census form. In response to the question about racial identity the…

  • What Does “Black” And “White” Look Like Anyway?

    What Does “Black” And “White” Look Like Anyway? Sociological Images: Inspiring Sociological Imaginations Everywhere 2008-10-24 Lisa Wade, Assistant Professor of Sociology Occidental College Gwen Sharp, Assistant Professor of Sociology Nevada State College These two photos—one of Barack Obama as an adult and one of a young Obama and his Grandfather, Stanley Dunham—are a great opportunity…

  • Obama Census Choice: African-American

    Obama Census Choice: African-American The Huffington Post 2010-04-02 Mark S. Smith WASHINGTON — He may be the world’s foremost mixed-race leader, but when it came to the official government head count, President Barack Obama gave only one answer to the question about his ethnic background: African-American. The White House confirmed on Friday that Obama did…

  • Barack Obama’s rise marks America’s first multiracial decade

    Barack Obama’s rise marks America’s first multiracial decade Yahoo News 2009-12-09 Thomas Kelley Everyone has a day of awakening when it comes to race. For me, it was a cool September day when I was eight years old. My family had recently moved to Colorado from Tennessee and like any child starting a new school,…

  • How Will Barack Obama Fill Out His Census Form?: The Future of “Miscegenation” in America

    How Will Barack Obama Fill Out His Census Form?: The Future of “Miscegenation” in America FSB Media 2009 Rich Benjamin The President says publicly that he is “African-American.”But will he check “black” or “two or more races” on his 2010 Census form? My parents, two dark-skinned blacks, married in 1967, a year when miscegenation —…

  • Race representation in this year’s Common Book

    Race representation in this year’s Common Book University of Washington News Laboratory Department of Communication December 2009 Kaetlyn Cordingley UW News Lab Each year, First Year Programs chooses a book as a means to bind the incoming freshman class together. This year’s book was Barack Obama’s “Dreams from My Father.” Coincidentally, on the same evening…

  • Dominic Mhiripiri ’12: Please. Mr. Obama is not black

    Dominic Mhiripiri ’12: Please. Mr. Obama is not black The Brown Daily Herald 2010-02-03 Dominic Mhiripiri, Opinions Columnist Recently, the United States marked the first anniversary of Barack Obama’s historic ascent to the apex of American politics. For a candidate who electrified a whole generation of American youth and whose promise gave the whole world…

  • Ambiguity and Ambivalence in the Voting Booth and Beyond: A Social-Psychological Perspective on Racial Attitudes and Behavior in the Obama Era

    Ambiguity and Ambivalence in the Voting Booth and Beyond: A Social-Psychological Perspective on Racial Attitudes and Behavior in the Obama Era Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race Volume 6, Issue 01, March 2009 pages 71-82 DOI: 10.1017/S1742058X09090067 Destiny Peery Department of Psychology Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois Galen V. Bodenhausen, Lawyer Taylor Professor of…