Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.
Anatole Broyard wanted to be a writer—and not just a “Negro writer” consigned to the back of the literary bus. He followed the trail blazed by tens of thousands of light-skinned black Americans. He methodically cut ties with his family (including a mother and two sisters) and took up life as a white man with a white wife in white Connecticut. By the late 1980’s, he had been“white” for 40 years, with two adult children who were unaware that they were part of a large black family that included an aunt who lived an hour away in Manhattan.
For the first time ever, Dr. Maria Root reads her Bill of Rights for People of Mixed Heritage on video. MASC presented an online Loving Day event June 2021. Loving Day celebrates the 1967 US Supreme Court decision that legalized interracial marriage in all 50 states. Since then mixed marriages and the multiracial population has grown. In 1993 Dr. Maria Root created the Bill of Rights to affirm mixed race identity.
Cynthia Wood, a light-skinned 17-year-old girl, tries to pass as white after getting hired by wealthy movie magnate Mr. Langley, who has problems with his spoiled wife and promiscuous teenage daughter and son.
There is a photo of both authors in the upper right-hand corner of the flyer. Jennifer Patrice Sims (left) and Chinelo L. Njaka (right) are pictured outdoors from the waist up and standing in front of a sand-colored brick wall. Dr. Sims wears a pink cardigan sweater over a white collared shirt and glasses. Dr. Njaka wears a blue cardigan sweater over a white collared shirt with a ditsy floral print. They are both smiling.
Jennifer Patricia Sims, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Taking mixed-race people as her main focus, Dr. Sims’ research examines racial construction, perception, and identity. She is the editor of The Sociology Of Harry Potter (Zossima Press, 2012)
Chinelo L. Njaka, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) is the Founder/Director of Peckham Rights! and an independent social researcher. Dr. Njaka is also a United Nations fellow for People of African Descent. Her research examines racialisation processes across different national, institutional, and organizational contexts; with a focus on the African Diaspora in Europe and human rights.
Erika discusses being Mixed Race within her family, her jobs, and the places she’s lived. Erika shares her thoughts and personal experiences when it comes to code switching and light privilege.
Black America is an in-depth conversation that explores what it means to be Black in America. The show profiles Black activists, academics, business leaders, sports figures, elected officials, artists and writers to gauge this experience in a time of both turbulence and breakthroughs.
Black America is hosted by Carol Jenkins, Emmy award winning New York City journalist, and founding president of The Women’s Media Center.
The majority-minority thesis contends that increasing demographic change in America will inevitably lead to a nation where minorities replace whites as the majority. In his new book, “The Great Demographic Illusion: Majority, Minority, and the Expanding American Mainstream” (Princeton University Press, 2020), sociologist Richard Alba argues that this narrative distorts ongoing changes because it overlooks the surge of young Americans growing up with one white and one nonwhite parent.
Please join AEI for a panel discussion, moderated by AEI’s Karlyn Bowman, on mixed-race families, US Census definitions, Hispanic identity across generations, personal definitions of race, and the implications for American politics.
Imani Perry, Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies; Faculty Associate in the Program in Law and Public Affairs and Gender and Sexuality Studies Princeton University
Referred to by Michael Eric Dyson as “one of the most brilliant and committed critics and advocates writing and thinking and working on behalf of Black people today,” Dr. Yaba Blay is a scholar, activist, and cultural consultant. Focusing on Black women and girls through topics like personal identity and body image, she has launched a number of viral media campaigns, produced the CNN documentary Who is Black in America?, and is an internationally renowned public speaker. Her work has appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Essence, and EBONY, and she has appeared on CNN, BET, and NPR, among other media outlets. In One Drop, Blay questions conventional perceptions of Blackness in order to create and understand a more diverse worldwide community.
