Mixed Race Studies

Through Mixed Eyes: The Biracial Experience and The Current State of Race in America

Williams College
2009-05-22
163 pages

Riki McDermott

Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment Of the requirement for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors In Sociology

President Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States on January 20, 2009. For many, this election served as a turning point in American history. His inauguration represented hope and change, and drew attention to the ways in which race relations have evolved with time. That being said, his election fails to tell the complete story. His presence distracts us from the racial injustices and inequalities that continue to plague American society. However, the case of biracial Americans draws our attention back to the controlling racial forces that proceed to haunt social institutions, interactions, and identities. Biracial Americans figuratively and literally serve as bridges between different races, thus signaling the importance of their interpretations of modern race relations. Through their eyes, we are able to better understand and assess the current state of race in America.

Table of Contents

• Abstract
• Dedications and Acknowledgements
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Initial Identity Formation of Biracials
• Chapter 2: The Renegotiation ofBiracial and Ethnic Identity
• Chapter 3: The Transformation of Biracial and Multiracial Passing
• Chapter 4: Interpreting the Realities of Racial Misidentifications
• Bibliography

We are currently living in the era of multiracialism. Whether we are aware of it or not, American culture is becoming saturated by multiracialism. The United States 2000 Census revealed that out of 281,421,906 individuals, 6,754,126 of them self-identified as multiracial. The sheer number of individuals of mixed race currently existing within the United States can therefore serve as an initial illustration of how multiracialism is growing in American culture. With a growing number of mixed race individuals, the likelihood of coming into contact with multiracials increases, thus intensifying the presence of multiracialism in American life. However, the media furthermore contributes to the spread of multiracialism today. As Americans we’ve come to depend on the media to keep us connected to the world outside of our own realm of experiences, resulting in its highly influential nature. Thus, whatever the media chooses to focus on, or however the media decides to spin a story, it generally dictates what the general American thinks about. As a result, when the media decides to focus its attention on two highly respected and distinguished men in American culture, who just happen to be multiracial, America listens…

…Biracial and multiracial individuals occupy an interesting space within American society; a space in which many of these individuals are forced to think about race with great frequency, as a result of our society not accounting for and recognizing many of the specific racial make-ups of multiracial individuals. This is problematic for mixed race individuals who desire for their specific racial make-up to be socially acknowledged, but who find it difficult to assert themselves within a social context dominated by distinct monoracial categories. I have found that as a result of having to deal with this dilemma, individuals of mixed races dedicate a lot of time to thinking about the social realities and consequences of race. Furthermore, I think individuals of mixed races serve as a metaphorical turning point between the past and the future. The past of this country was monoracial individuals, despite the fact that biracial and multiracial individuals existed, who were socially unacknowledged as such. And the future of this country is multiracial individuals, many of whom will be unaware of their exact racial make-up, due to a long legacy of racial mixing. Thus, multiracial individuals are now living within a society that continues to be dominated by a monoracial mentality, even though we claim not to be.  I therefore view these individuals as being able to sympathize with the monoracial tendencies of the past and present, as well as the multiracial tendencies that have begun to surface and will continue to emerge in the future. For these reasons, I see biracial and multiracial individuals as a group whose insights about the present and future state of racial America are especially crucial for a sociological analysis…

Read the entire thesis here.

APA recognizes record number of student research projects

gradPSYCH Magazine
Volume 8, Number 3 (September 2010)
Page 7

J. Clark
 
The APA Science Student Council doubled its research prizes this year, awarding six $1,000 Early Graduate Student Research Awards to psychology doctoral students for their outstanding research.

“By recognizing the work of these students, we get to encourage them to pursue careers in research and continue producing knowledge that benefits society,” says Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz, the Science Student Council chair.

The council received a record 159 applicants from students conducting innovative psychology research. This year’s winners worked on a variety of research projects, but all had one thing in common: scientific rigor that even a senior researcher could be proud of, says Lázaro-Muñoz. The award recipients are:…

…Jacqueline Chen, a social psychology student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who investigates the ways monoracial people perceive multiracial people. In one study, she asked monoracial participants to categorize people as black, white or multiracial as quickly as possible. She found that they correctly identified multiracial people at rates significantly above chance…

Read the entire article here.

Ecological Framework for Understanding Multiracial Identity Development

American Psychological Association
2002
1 page (chart)

Maria P. P. Root

A graphical representation of the factors involved in multiracial identity development.

View the chart here.

The People of Frilot Cove: A Study of Racial Hybrids

The American Journal of Sociology
Volume 57, Number 2 (September 1951)
pages 145-149

J. Hardy Jones, Jr.

Vernon J. Parenton

Frilot Cove is a color-conscious, semi-isolated rural community of 302 persons with an ante bellum cultural background, who, though they approximate Nordic and Mediterranean types, are classified as Negroes. Criteria of upper-class status are light skin, income, and family background. Discrimination by whites draws them to the Negro, but their concern is not with their personal, but with their group, situation.

This paper summarizes certain findings of a more comprehensive studyI which analyzed some sociologically important elements of a hybrid racial community of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. The purpose of that study was to analyze social organization and social change in a semi-isolated hybrid rural community: Its historical origin; its population characteristics; its social, cultural, and economic characteristics; and the attitudes of its inhabitants to race. The principal sources of data were schedules, interviews, informal conversation, personal observations, attitude inventories, written materials obtained directly from community members, microfilm copies of old United States census records, and pertinent published materials.

The history of this community, Frilot Cove, is part of the long and interesting history of the state of Louisiana. The first explorers in Louisiana were the Spaniards, who were seeking riches; but they failed to establish themselves permanently in the country of the great Mississippi. Francewas the first to succeed in establishing colonies. Through the efforts of such men as De la Salle, D’Iberville, and De Bienville, Louisiana became an important part of the New World, Although Louisiana was returned to Spain for about forty years (prior to 1803, when the territory became a part of the United States), the French culture was predominant and is still much in evidence in the southern parts of the state.

In 1765 a military and trading post was established at Opelousas. The fertile prairie land surrounding the post soon attracted many settlers. In 1807, St, Landry Parish was formed and Opelousas became the seat of parish government. According to the United States marshal of the Western District, which included St. Landry Parish, there were 532 free colored persons and 4,680 white persons in this area in 1840. The census shows that there were among the free colored only thirty-three males to fifty-nine females in the twenty-four- to thirty-six-year age group. On the other hand, in the white group from twenty to forty years of age there were 835 males to 295 females—an extreme shortage of females. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that some of the white men took their wives from the free colored class.

By the end of the nineteenth century the parish had a population of 52,170 inhabitants, slightly over half of whom were counted as Negroes. This increase of the Negro population came about largely as a result of the many cotton plantations throughout the area.

Among these Negroes were many mulattoes, primarily the descendants of white men and colored women. Of the parents of these people, many were “free men of color” during ante bellum days and owned plantation…

Read or purchase the article here.