Mixed Race Studies

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

Tag: Columbia University and Slavery

As mentioned above, Columbia’s refusal to admit black students into the University created the conditions that encouraged black students to pass as white, and James Parker Barnett may be a case of just that. However, the only reason we know about James Parker Barnett was because he was CAUGHT.

2021-12-04

The extent to which elite universities like Columbia worked to keep black students outside their walls makes the accomplishments of Columbia’s hailed “first” black graduates even more impressive, as these students existed within institutions that found identity through racialized exclusivity. That being said, James Parker Barnett’s story highlights a problem with these narratives of “firsts”,…
Blurring the Lines: James Parker Barnett, Racial Passing, and Invisible Early Black Students at Columbia University

2021-11-15

Blurring the Lines: James Parker Barnett, Racial Passing, and Invisible Early Black Students at Columbia University Columbia University and Slavery Columbia University, New York, New York 2018 Ciara Keane Discussions of racial passing have never been simple, as racial passing involves the traversing of social systems and the manipulation of power structures in a way…