Mixed Race Studies

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

Day: November 21, 2017

Myth of race still embedded in scientific research, scholar says

2017-11-21

The concept of “race” – the idea that humans are naturally divided into biologically distinct groups – has been definitively proven false. But the 21st century has seen a disturbing increase in scientists inaccurately presenting race as the reason for racial inequality, says an acclaimed scholar of race, gender and law.
My mother spent her life passing as white. Discovering her secret changed my view of race — and myself.

2017-11-21

For two years, I’d waited for the right moment to confront my mother with the shocking discovery I made in 1995 while scrolling through the 1900 Louisiana census records. In the records, my mother’s father, Azemar Frederic of New Orleans, and his entire family were designated black.