Mixed Race Studies

…Marriage between blacks, whites and Indians was legal in Virginia for most of the 17th century. Genealogist Paul Heinegg found that 99% of all mixed children in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the Carolinas before 1810 came from intermarriages of free blacks with whites. Cases of white masters having children by black slaves were virtually non-existence, making up only one percent of the mixed mulatto population…

Tim Hashaw,  “MALUNGU: The African Origin of the American Melungeons,” Electica (July/August 2001). http://www.eclectica.org/v5n3/hashaw.html.

…From the 1620s, in southern British colonies like Virginia, white northern Europeans intermarried with Indians.  They also intermarried with Africans who began entering the American colonies as early as 1619.  Melungeons originate from these red, white and black peoples in this period of American history.  They began forming identifiable separate mixed communities when the first anti-African laws started restricting some of their freedoms by 1660…

Tim Hashaw,  “MALUNGU: The African Origin of the American Melungeons,” Electica  (July/August 2001), http://www.eclectica.org/v5n3/hashaw.html.

The Interpretation of Multiracial Status and Its Relation to Social Engagementand Psychological Well-Being

Journal of Social Issues
Volume 65, Number1, (March 2009)
pages 35-49
DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.01586.x

Kevin R. Binning
Stanford University

Miguel M. Unzueta
University of California, Los Angeles

Yuen J. Huo
University of California, Los Angeles

Ludwin E. Molina
University of Kansas

This research examines how multiracial individuals chose to identify themselves with respect to their racial identity and how this choice relates to their self-reported psychological well-being (e.g., self-esteem, positive affect) and level of social engagement (e.g., citizenship behaviors, group alienation). High school students who belong to multiple racial/ethnic groups (N = 182) were asked to indicate the group with which they primarily identify. Participants were then classified as identifying with a low-status group (i.e., Black or Latino), a high-status group (i.e., Asian or White), or multiple groups (e.g., Black and White, etc.). Results showed that, compared with multiracial individuals who identified primarily with a low- or high-status group, those who identified with multiple groups tended to report either equal or higher psychological well-being and social engagement.  Potential explanations and implications for understanding multiracial identity are discussed.

Read the entire article here.

Is Valuing Equality Enough? Equality Values, Allophilia, and Social Policy Support for Multiracial Individuals

Journal of Social Issues
Volume 65, Number 1 (March 2009)
pages 151-163
DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.01592.x

Todd L. Pittinsky, Professor of Technology and Society
State University of New York, Stony Brook

R. Matthew Montoya, Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio

We conducted a field study to investigate positive intergroup attitudes (i.e., allophilia) and equality values as potential antecedents of social policy support for multiracial individuals. Participants (N = 97) reported their social policy support for multiracial individuals in two ways—support for the recognition of “multiracial” as a distinct racial category (recognition) and support for multiracial individuals’ access to programs and policies (assistance). Results revealed that allophilia motivated those who held equality beliefs to support social policies for multiracial individuals. Implications of these findings for theories of positive intergroup relations, as well as the processes that may underlie progress for multiracial individuals, are discussed.

Read or purchase the article here.

Mixed Race Students in College: The Ecology of Race, Identity, and Community on Campus

SUNY Press
July 2004
308 pages
Hardback ISBN10: 0-7914-6163-7; ISBN13: 978-0-7914-6163-1
Paperback ISBN10: 0-7914-6164-5; ISBN13: 978-0-7914-6164-8

Kristen A. Renn, Associate Professor
Michigan State University

Portrays the diverse experiences and identities of mixed race college students.

Kristen A. Renn offers a new perspective on racial identity in the United States, that of mixed race college students making sense of the paradox of deconstructing racial categories while living on campuses sharply divided by race and ethnicity. Focusing on how peer culture shapes identity in public and private spaces, the book presents the findings of a qualitative research study involving fifty-six undergraduates from a variety of institutions. Renn uses an innovative ecology model to examine campus peer cultures and documents five patterns of multiracial identity that illustrate possibilities for integrating notions of identity construction (and deconstruction) with the highly salient nature of race in higher education. One of the most ambitious scholarly attempts to date to portray the diverse experiences and identities of mixed race college students, the book also discusses implications for higher education practice, policy, theory, and research.

Table Of Contents

• Preface
• 1. The Context of Mixed Race Students in American Higher Education
• 2. The Ecology of Multiracial Identity on Campus—An Analytic Framework and Research Design
• 3. Patterns of Multiracial Identity among College Students
• 4. I’m Black—Monoracial Identity
• 5. I’m Asian and Latina—Multiple Monoracial Identities
• 6. I’m Mixed—Multiracial Identity
• 7. I Don’t Check Any Boxes—Extraracial Identity
• 8. It Depends—Situational Identity
• 9. From Patterns to Practice—What Mixed Race Identity Patterns Mean for Educational Practice
• Appendix A: Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity
• Appendix B: Summary of Study Participants
• Appendix C: Interview and Focus Group Protocols
• Notes

Educational Policy, Politics, and Mixed Heritage Students in the United States

Journal of Social Issues
Volume 65, Number 1 (March 2009)
pages 165-183
DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.01593.x

Kristen A. Renn, Professor of Higher, Adult, & Lifelong Education
Michigan State University

This article describes local, state, and federal policies related to collecting, aggregating, and reporting data on student race and ethnicity in U.S. K-12 and postsecondary education. It traces data policy from the 1997 decision by the Office of Management and Budget to change from single-race reporting to a format that permits respondents to choose more than one race, to the October 2007 issuance of final guidance from the Department of Education. Taking a K-20 perspective, I consider how policies for data collection and reporting may affect educational and developmental outcomes for students, as well as local, state, and national education policy environments.

Read or purchase the article here.