Mixed Race Studies

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

The “mulatto escape hatch” (Degler 1986), also called the “intermediate mulatto stratum” (Safa 1998), refers to the notion that someone can be born black, yet become mulatto through an increase in social status, or intergenerational whitening. This intermediate category emerged from the large free colored population in many Latin American countries during the time of slavery (Safa 1998; Skidmore 1993; Smedley 2007). The creation of the mulatto category, which possessed some benefits over blacks, was a mechanism of social control insofar as the possibility of moving out of the category “black” inhibited alliances among people of African descent (Daniel 2006). Peter Wade (1997) contends that in Latin America, racially mixed children are recognized as socially distinct from their parents. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (2004) explains that Latin American countries have a tri-racial system, in which an intermediate group buffers race conflict. Luisa Schwartzman (2007) also claims that, in Brazil, “browns serve as a buffer zone between blacks and whites” (p. 944).

Tanya Golash-Boza, “Does Whitening Happen? Distinguishing between Race and Color Labels in an African-Descended Community in Peru,” Social Problems, Volume 57, Number 1, (February 2010): 140.

Racial Identity and Self-Esteem: Problems Peculiar to Biracial Children

Posted in Articles, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, United States on 2010-06-21 02:21Z by Steven

Racial Identity and Self-Esteem: Problems Peculiar to Biracial Children

Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry
Volume 24, Issue 2, (March 1985)
Pages 150-153
DOI: 10.1016/S0002-7138(09)60440-4

Michael R. Lyles, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
University of Kentucky College of Medicine

Antronette Yancey, M.D.
University of Kentucky College of Medicine

Candis Grace, M.D.
University of Kentucky College of Medicine

James H. Carter, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry
Duke University Medical Center

This report illustrates several identity problems peculiar to a child of black and white parentage, who was reared by a white maternal grandmother in the South. The pervasive racial bigotry of the child’s family and community is contrasted with the child’s intrapsychic struggle for positive identity and self-esteem. The course of dynamic psychotherapy with this child is portrayed, with pertinent treatment issues dilineated and recommendations for therapy proposed.

Read or purchase the article here.

Tags: Antronette Yancey, Candis Grace, James H. Carter, Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, Michael R. Lyles

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Mixed Race Studies

Racial Identity and Self-Esteem: Problems Peculiar to Biracial Children

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