Mixed Race Studies

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

“My father is black. My mother is white. I self-identify as black and as mixed and I don’t relate to those as mutually exclusive. I also try to be mindful and try to have a certain humility about how my experience differs from most other black people; about how I have certain types of residual white privilege which I don’t believe makes me less black. I also know that it is ultimately not up to me whether I am accepted as black. My experience though, has almost always been of black people welcoming me and accepting me as their own. And it’s only because of that lifetime of experience that I would feel comfortable telling Nancy Giles,“actually I’m black.” And I knew that even within that moment, I could tell her that and she would get it. And I’m not saying that there is never any exclusion within the black community. I’m not negating people who have experienced that. But I do think that there is a tradition of a loving welcoming inclusive blackness that is important as a rejection and a counter to the historical function of whiteness. It’s a tradition I’ve experienced as a beautiful thing and as Adam Serwer said, it’s a beautiful thing that Rachel Dolezal has “taken advantage of,” that she has manipulated, that she has poisoned just a little bit with what she’s done here.”

Jay Smooth, ““Empathy does not preclude accountability:” Jay Smooth on Rachel Dolezal,” Fusion, June 18, 2015 (00:01:53-00:03:11). http://fusion.net/video/153151/empathy-does-not-preclude-accountability-jay-smooth-on-rachel-dolezal/.

To a Dark Girl

Posted in Biography, History, Louisiana, Media Archive, Religion, United States, Videos, Women on 2022-01-12 01:13Z by Steven

To a Dark Girl

North Star
Louisiana Public Broadcasting
Source: Louisiana Digital Media Archive
1985

Contributors:

Genevieve Stewart, Host
Sister Barbara Marie, Interviewee
Leslie Williams, Interviewee
Michelle Diaz, Interviewee

This episode of the series “North Star” from 1985 focuses on two intertwined stories related to the history of New Orleans in the 19th century: the quadroon balls held at the Orleans Ballroom, clandestine events where white men met free women of color, who would become their mistresses; the founding of the Sisters of the Holy Family, an African American congregation of Catholic nuns, by Henriette DeLille; and a visit to St. Mary’s Academy, the school run by the Sisters of the Holy Family, which was once located at the Orleans Ballroom. Host: Genevieve Stewart

Watch the video (00:14:20) here.

Tags: Barbara Marie, Bourbon Orleans Hotel, Genevieve Stewart, Henriette Delille, Henriette Díaz DeLille, Leslie Williams, Louisiana Digital Media Archive, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Michelle Diaz, New Orleans, North Star, plaçage, quadroon balls, Sisters of the Holy Family, St. Mary's Academy

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Henriette Delille is two steps away from becoming a Saint

Posted in Articles, Biography, History, Louisiana, Media Archive, Religion, United States, Women on 2019-02-22 23:54Z by Steven

Henriette Delille is two steps away from becoming a Saint

The Louisiana Weekly
2019-01-02

Henriette Delille

As the Who Dat Nation roots for the New Orleans Saints as they strive to win the NFL Super Bowl in Atlanta, another group of dedicated and faithful folks is eagerly awaiting the day that their Beloved Founder becomes a bonafide Saint in her own right.

Henriette Delille, founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family, is but two steps from being recognized by the Vatican as a Roman Catholic Saint.

Henriette Delille was born in New Orleans, La., on Thursday, March 11, 1813. Her mother, Marie-Josèphe “Pouponne” Díaz, was a free woman of color of New Orleans. Her father Jean-Baptiste Lille Sarpy (var. de Lille) was born about 1758 in Fumel, Lotet-Garonne, France. Their union was a common-law marriage typical of the contemporary plaçage system. She had a brother Jean Delille and other siblings. Their maternal grandparents were Juan José (var. Jean-Joseph) Díaz, a Spanish merchant, and Henriette (Dubreuil) Laveau, a Créole of color. Their paternal grandparents were Charles Sarpy and Susanne Trenty, both natives of Fumel, France. Her maternal great-grandmother is said to be Cécile Marthe Basile Dubreuil, a woman of color considered to be a daughter of Villars Dubreuil, born in 1716, who immigrated to Louisiana from France. Henriette and her family lived in the French Quarter, not far from St. Louis Cathedral…

Read the entire article here.

Tags: Henriette Delille, Henriette Díaz DeLille, Louisiana Weekly, New Orleans, The Louisiana Weekly

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Mixed Race Studies

To a Dark Girl

Henriette Delille is two steps away from becoming a Saint

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