Mixed Race Studies

Mix-d: Museum

Mix-d:™
2012-02-27

Chamion Caballero, Senior Research Fellow
London South Bank University

Peter Aspinall, Reader in Population Health at the Centre for Health Services Studies
University of Kent, UK

The overall aim of the project is to explore the potential of translating knowledge through technology. Working together with Mix-d, the team will draw on findings from the British Academy project to develop the ‘Mix-d Museum’, an online repository of material and interactive resources.

Hello and a big welcome to our blog! We are delighted to be working with Mix-d: to share the findings of our research on mixed race people, couples and families in early 20th century Britain through the creation of the Mix-d: Timeline. The Timeline will provide highlight many key events in the history of racial mixing and mixedness in twentieth century Britain, as well provide an insight into the everyday lives and experiences of mixed race people, couples and families during this time.

For this first blog entry, we thought we’d say a bit about why we started the research project that the Timeline will draw on and what we found along the way.

As researchers interested in mixed race people, couples and families, we were aware that the little history that had been told about this group—particularly around the interwar period—had assumed that theirs was an inherently negative or problematic experience. We were also aware that such perceptions continued to influence how mixed people, couples and families were seen in Britain today…

…We had hoped to find some records and personal accounts relating to these families and people, but what we found far exceeded our expectations. The project sourced a fantastic range of archival material, including official documents, autobiographical recordings and photo and film material, which has helped us to understand more about the experiences of these families and the effect that official attitudes to racial mixing and mixedness had on their lives…

Read the entire blog post here.

Studs Terkel’s study of race in the US: 20 years on

The Guardian
2012-03-13

Gary Younge

What have we learned in the two decades since the oral historian Studs Terkel published his classic book Race? In the introduction to a new edition, Gary Younge weighs up what has changed – and what hasn’t

Cultures do not come by their obsessions lightly. They tend them over generations, feeding them with myths, truths, pain, resentment, collective generalisations and individual exceptions. They pick at them like scabs until they bleed, and then mistake the consequent infection for the original wound. And then, like a hardy virus, the obsessions survive all attempts at inoculation by mutating into new and more stubborn strains.

Race in America, as Studs Terkel points out in the subtitle to his book (“What Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession”), published 20 years ago this year, is one such obsession. “No African came in freedom to the shores of the New World,” wrote 19th-century French intellectual Alexis de Tocqueville in his landmark book Democracy in America. “The Negro transmits to his descendants at birth the external mark of his ignominy. The law can abolish servitude, but only God can obliterate its traces.”

By 1992, when Race was published, the laws had been abolished two generations prior, leaving the traces to engrave a deep and treacherous crevice between de jure and de facto. So there was never any risk that in the two decades since Terkel conducted most of these interviews, the book would be relegated to a period piece. True, numerous references to Louis Farrakhan, Harold Washington and Ronald Reagan certainly root the contributions in their time. Remarkable things have also happened to race in America since the book came out: black Americans have been eclipsed by Latinos as the largest minority; the black prison population has increased exponentially; a Republican right wing is on the ascendancy; and there is, of course, a black president…

Read the entire article here.

Mexico’s black history is often ignored

Los Angeles Times
2008-04-13

John L. Mitchell, Times Staff Writer

In Mexico, the story of the country’s black population has been largely ignored in favor of an ideology that declares that all Mexicans are “mixed race.” But it’s the mixture of indigenous and European heritage that most Mexicans embrace; the African legacy is overlooked.

“They are saying we are all the same and therefore there is no reason to distinguish yourself,” said Padre Glyn Jemmott, a Roman Catholic priest from Trinidad and Tobago who has had a parish of a dozen Costa Chican pueblos since 1984.

“What they are not saying is that in ordinary life in Mexico, lighter-skinned Mexicans are accepted and have first place,” he said.

Jemmott, a co-founder of Mexico Negro, an organization that seeks to promote cultural pride and political strength in the coastal pueblos, said many Costa Chicans often don’t fully understand what it means to be black in Mexico until they leave their region.

Some tell stories of being confronted in other parts of the country by police who refuse to believe they’re Mexican and sometimes accuse them of being there illegally…

…They were not taught the details of their history: that Spanish slavers took Africans to colonial Mexico (New Spain) in the 16th century, long before the first slaves arrived in Jamestown, Va.; that during the colonial period there were more Africans than Europeans in Mexico.

The Costa Chicans were also not taught that some of the blacks were not slaves; that blacks lived throughout what is now Mexico, working in mining, sugar plantations and fishing.

In some instances black Mexicans were explorers and co-founders of settlements, including Los Angeles.

Jose Maria Morelos, one of Mexico’s leaders for independence, was a mulatto, as was Vicente Guerrero, Mexico’s second president, who abolished slavery in 1822…

Read the entire article here.

Being mixed: Who claims a biracial identity?

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology
Volume 18, Number 1 (January 2012)
pages 91-96
DOI: 10.1037/a0026845

Sarah S. M. Townsend, Visiting Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations and Postdoctoral Fellow
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

Stephanie A. Fryberg, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Affiliate Faculty in American Indian Studies
University of Arizona

Clara L. Wilkins, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Wesleyan University

Hazel Rose Markus, Davis-Brack Professor in the Behavioral Sciences
Stanford University

What factors determine whether mixed-race individuals claim a biracial identity or a monoracial identity? Two studies examine how two status-related factors—race and social class—influence identity choice. While a majority of mixed-race participants identified as biracial in both studies, those who were members of groups with higher status in American society were more likely than those who were members of groups with lower status to claim a biracial identity. Specifically, (a) Asian/White individuals were more likely than Black/White or Latino/White individuals to identify as biracial and (b) mixed-race people from middle-class backgrounds were more likely than those from working-class backgrounds to identify as biracial. These results suggest that claiming a biracial identity is a choice that is more available to those with higher status.

Read or purchase the article here.

Black identity in biracial Black/White people: A comparison of Jacqueline who refuses to be exclusively Black and Adolphus who wishes he were.

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology
Volume 7, Number 2 (May 2001)
page 182-196
DOI: 10.1037//1099-9809.7.2.182

Angela R. Gillem
Arcadia University

Laura Renee Cohn
Arcadia University

Cambria Thorne
Arcadia University

Two biracial college freshmen (17 and 19 yrs old), both of whom identify as Black, were chosen from a larger sample of participants in a qualitative study of biracial identity development to exemplify the differences in the paths that 2 biracial individuals could take to achieve racial identity resolution. Through the case study method, the authors describe the course and progression of racial identity development (RID) in these 2 individuals and discuss some key themes in their lives that have contributed to the development of their RID. The purposes are fourfold: to describe, nonclinical subjective experiences of being biracial in the US, to explore the differences in the paths that 2 biracial individuals can take to achieve what looks superficially like similar Black racial identity resolution, to demonstrate how identifying as Black can have different meanings and consequences for 2 biracial people, and to contribute to the differentiation of Black RID from biracial Black/White RID. The authors raise questions about the generalizability of monoracial Black and ethnic identity theories to biracial individuals.

Read the entire article here.

[Daniel Fiedler] Segregating children is wrong

The Korea Herald
2012-03-13

Daniel Fiedler, Professor of Law
Wonkwang University

This year under the guidance of the Seoul Office of Education a new elementary school and a new high school were opened in the Seoul area. While generally the opening of new schools would not be cause for comment, in this case the new schools are specifically for children who come from “multicultural” backgrounds. The high school is designed to educate “multicultural” teenagers who have dropped out of regular public high schools, while the elementary school will operate as a regular school but with special emphasis on teaching Korean culture and language. The Seoul Office of Education argues that this is a necessary and progressive approach to assist in the education of these children; however, segregating these students from their Korean peers is neither appropriate nor desirable for the future of South Korea. And the use of the term “multicultural” to describe these children is a thinly disguised euphemism for mixed-race or mixed-descent, a concept that has no place in 21st century discourse.

For a comparison one only has to look to the failed experience of the United States in segregating the races during the first half of the 20th century. In the United States the euphemism used was “separate but equal” and the idea was to have schools only for black children and schools only for white children. The United States then extended it to separate cars on trains, to separate public bathrooms and even to separate drinking fountains and soda shops. However, after almost 60 years it became apparent that the “separate but equal” approach was an abject failure and, in 1954 the United States Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. Since that time integration and equality have been driving forces behind affirmative action programs in education, employment and everyday life in the United States. Nonetheless, the United States still struggles with the impact of that half century of segregation as reflected in the racist attitudes that still exist among the less educated and provincial members of American society…

Read the entire article here.

Call for submissions: “Mixed Race 2.0”

“Mixed Race 2.0: Mixing Race, Risk, and Reward in the Digital Age” is a project dedicated to examining the intersections of multiracial identities that lurk behind the scenes of everyday life in an increasingly networked world. In recent years, multiracial identities have seen increased representation in media, politics, art and activism. To explore these exciting transitions…, “Mixed Race 2.0” will pose questions and provide analyses that strike the core of what multiracial identities have meant, currently mean, and will mean to generations across the globe.

The primary question is: What does mixed race 2.0 mean to you? Potential themes with which to address this question include, but are not limited to:

• 2010 v. 2000 US Census
• Digital v. Analog
• “Hapa” v. “Mulatto”
• Book v. e-Media
• One Box v. Check All that Apply
• Consumers and Marketing
• The Ivory Tower v. The Real World
• America v. The World
• History v. Future

Target Audience

There is a significant market for a contemporary and analytically engaged, yet very accessible, book and media project on the meanings of multiracial identities in the digital age. The target audiences are both popular and academic consumers. The general consumer interested in race, identity, politics, demographic shifts, popular culture and media subject matter will find “Mixed Race 2.0” interesting and engaging. The academic consumer will find this text to be multi-disciplinary, and suitable for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as researchers and practitioners in the fields of communication studies, journalism, critical cultural studies, racial/ethnic studies, popular culture studies, mass communication and media studies, media literacy, sociology, and education.

Submission Procedure

We welcome the following formats of submission: essays, high-resolution images of artwork, short films no longer than 3 minutes, and music in MP3 form no longer than 3 minutes. Essay contributions should be approximately 2,000 words, Chicago formatted, in 12-point Times New Roman font. All submissions are due on or before Monday, April 16, 2012. Submissions should include contact information and a brief 50-word bio for each author. Authors of accepted projects will be notified no later than Tuesday, May 15, 2012.

All inquiries and submissions should be sent to the editors below:

Marcia Alesan Dawkins (mixedrace2.0@gmail.com)
Ulli K. Ryder (mixedrace2.0@gmail.com)
Alexandrina Agloro (mixedrace2.0@gmail.com)

For more information, click here.

Miscegenation: The Courts and the Constitution

William and Mary Law Review
Volume 8, Issue 1 (1966)
Article 7
pages 133-142

Cyrus E. Phillips IV

MISCEGENATION: THE COURTS AND THE CONSTITUTION

Miscegenation is generally defined as the interbreeding or marriage of persons of different races, but the term will here be used in reference to miscegenetic marriages only. That is, this paper will concern itself only with the aspects of the marriage laws of various states that relate to miscegenation. The purpose of this paper will be to show the antecedents of miscegenation in the American legal system, the methods of constitutional justification of miscegenation statutes in state courts, and the change in regard to their validity given by the federal judiciary.

BACKGROUND

Prohibitions against miscegenation date back to the earliest colonial times, and the first record of sanctions imposed for this act in the Virginia colony appears in Hening’s extract from the judicial proceedings of the Governor and Council of Virginia:

September 17th, 1630. Hugh Davis to be soundly whipped, before an assembly of negroes and others for abusing himself to the dishonor of God and shame of Christians, by defiling his body in lying with a negro; which fault he is to acknowledge next Sabbath day.

That prohibitions against miscegenation have been widespread in the United States can be seen in the fact that they have appeared in the statutes of some forty states. Of these forty, twenty-three have repealed their statutes, half of these having been repealed within the last two decades as a result of the movement for Negro equality as well as the publicity occasioned by a 1948 decision of the California Supreme Court which struck down that state’s miscegenation statute.

Nontheless, it is indeed surprising that seventeen states still retain their miscegenation statutes. Of these seventeen states, six make express provisions in their constitutions either forbidding the passage of laws validating such marriages or else maling them void ab initio. Miscegenation is an entirely statutory crime, generally considered to be of the grade of a felony, the penalty for which ranges up to imprisonment for ten years and fines up to $2,000.

All miscegenation statutes contain general provisions against the intermarriage of Negroes and Caucasians, but others have expanded their scope to include Malays, American Indians, Mestizos, and Half-breeds. Although these statutes in the main do not prohibit intermarriage between members of races other than white, all prohibit intermarriage between a white person and a member of the designated non-white group or groups.

And just as the groups with which intermarriage is prohibited vary from state to state, so also does the definition of “Negro.” One state classifies a Negro as any person of one-eighth or more Negro blood, while others define Negroes as any person of Negro descent to the third generation inclusive.”‘ Two states include every person in whom there is any ascertainable Negro blood within the prohibited group. That these statutes are an anomaly in this period of constitutional and social reform is readily apparent. Nevertheless, their antecedents run deep in the American legal system…

Read the entire article here.

Thus the effectiveness of a public policy argument in defense of miscegenation statutes stands on very weak ground today. The mind of the modern Supreme Court was well expressed by Mr. Chief Justice Vinson in Shelley v. Kraemer, when he stated: “Equal protection of the laws is not achieved through indiscriminate imposition of equalities.”

Edmund L. Walton Jr., “Present Status of Miscegenation Statutes,” William and Mary Law Review, Volume 4, Issue 1, (January, 1963): 33.

The suggestion of a fruitless future for the black American is reinforced in the faces of the two young figures. Homer endows the women with traditional Caucasian features by painting them with light skin and slender facial bone structure. By representing the figures with a combination of both prototypical black and white physical characteristics, Homer portrays them as products of sexual mingling between the races. Although interracial cohabitation had been prevalent since the Colonial era, mulattos born in the period from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries were often the result of sexual relations between white males of the planter class and their domestic slaves. Common almost to the point on institutionalization, wealthy Southern planters kept regular concubines and bred entire families of mixed-race children, the result being an unprecedented increase in mulatto slavery during the years 1850-60.  Based on the appearance of the two figures in Homer’s 1876 painting, their logical birth dates would fall near the height of interracial procreation, raising the distinct possibility that these women were fathered by the plantation owner.

Susanna W. Gold, “A measured freedom: national unity and racial containment in Winslow Homer’s The Cotton Pickers, 1876,” The Mississippi Quarterly, (Spring 2002).