Mixed Race Studies

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

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Tag: hypodescent

  • People of Mixed Ancestry in the Seventeenth-Century Chesapeake: Freedom, Bondage, and the Rise of Hypodescent Ideology

    This article examines the origins of mixed-race ideologies and people of mixed African, European, and Native American ancestry—commonly identified as mulattoes—in the seventeenth-century English colonial Chesapeake and wider Atlantic world.

  • More Than Black? Multiracial Identity and the New Racial Order

    In the United States, anyone with even a trace of African American ancestry has been considered black. Even as the twenty-first century opens, a racial hierarchy still prevents people of color, including individuals of mixed race, from enjoying the same privileges as Euro-Americans. In this book, G. Reginald Daniel argues that we are at a…

  • Why Do We Consider Obama to Be Black?

    Why Do We Consider Obama to Be Black? New America Media Commentary 2008-10-25 Ronald Takaki (1939-2009), Emeritus Professor of Ethnic Studies University of California, Berkeley A historical look at the the persistence of the “one drop” rule. Editor’s Note: Historian and scholar Ronald Takaki uncovers the origins of the “one drop” rule that was key…

  • The End of the One-Drop Rule? Labeling of Multiracial Children in Black Intermarriages

    The End of the One-Drop Rule? Labeling of Multiracial Children in Black Intermarriages Sociological Forum Volume 20, Number 1 (March, 2005) pages 35-67 Print ISSN: 0884-8971, Online ISSN: 1573-7861 DOI: 10.1007/s11206-005-1897-0 Wendy D. Roth, Assistant Professor of Sociology University of British Columbia, Canada The identity choices of multiracial individuals with Black heritage have traditionally been…

  • What Does “Black” Mean? Exploring the Epistemological Stranglehold of Racial Categorization

    What Does “Black” Mean? Exploring the Epistemological Stranglehold of Racial Categorization Critical Sociology Vol. 28, No. 1-2 (2002) pages 101-121 DOI: 10.1177/08969205020280010801 David L. Brunsma, Professor of Sociology Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Kerry Ann Rockquemore, Associate Professor of Sociology University of Illinois at Chicago The “check all that apply” approach to race on the…

  • Research Report: Black + White = Black: Hypodescent in Reflexive Categorization of Racially Ambiguous Faces

    Research Report: Black + White = Black: Hypodescent in Reflexive Categorization of Racially Ambiguous Faces Psychological Science Volume 19, Number 10 (2008) pages 973-977 Destiny Peery Department of Psychology, Northwestern University Galen V. Bodenhausen, Lawyer Taylor Professor of Psychology in the Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences Northwestern University Historically, the principle of hypodescent specified…

  • one-drop rule

    The one-drop rule is a historical colloquial term for a belief among some people in the United States that a person with any trace of African ancestry is black. See also: hypodescent. Wikipedia For more information, see Winthrop D. Jordan’s (Paul Spickard, ed.) “Historical Origins of the One-Drop Racial Rule in the United States,” in…

  • An Unexpected Blackness

    An Unexpected Blackness Transition: An International Review Feb 2009 No. 100 Pages 112-132 Naomi Pabst, Assistant Professor of African American Studies and American Studies Yale University What does it mean to be of African descent while residing in Canada, where the hypodescent rule does not hold sway?  Naomi Pabst reflects upon the complexity of life…

  • Racial Mixture and Affirmative Action: The Cases of Brazil and the United States

    Racial Mixture and Affirmative Action: The Cases of Brazil and the United States The American Historical Review Volume 108, Number 5 December 2003 Thomas E. Skidmore, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Professor of History Emeritus Brown University For me, as a historian of Brazil, North America’s “one-drop rule” has always seemed odd. No other society in…

  • Evidence for Hypodescent and Racial Hierarchy in the Perception of Biracial Individuals

    Evidence for Hypodescent and Racial Hierarchy in the Perception of Biracial Individuals SPSP 2010 The Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology 2010-01-28 through 2010-01-30 Las Vegas, Nevada Arnold K. Ho Harvard University Daniel T. Levin Vanderbilt University Jim Sidanius, Professor Psychology and African and African American Studies Harvard University Mahzarin…