Mixed Race Studies

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

It is scarcely necessary to point out that the intellectual superiority of the mulatto over the negro affords no sufficient ground for advocating the amalgamation of the negro and white races. If the mulatto has a better mind than the negro, he is apparently inferior to him in physique and is inferior in every way to the whites. Any system of cross breeding which means the substitution of mulatto for white children cannot be viewed as anything but a serious menace. It is to be condemned, not only from the biological standpoint, but because it would lead to social and moral deterioration. To say that negro-white crosses are undesirable on biological grounds, however, is not to assert that race crossing is bad per se. If races are on the same level of inherent physical and intellectual endowment their fusion may produce a very desirable combination of qualities and might give rise to a diversity of traits which would be socially valuable. We have insufficient grounds for condemning crosses of races or peoples per se but only those crosses which substitute an intermediate product for the most highly endowed stock. It is the very best inheritance that should be conserved at all costs. Out of it come the rare minds that rise like mountain peaks above the general level of humanity. And it is to these minds, small in number, but incalculably great in influence, that advancement in civilization and culture is largely due.

Samuel J. Holmes, The Trend of the Race: A Study of Present Tendencies in the Biological Development of Civilized Mankind (New York: Hourcourt, Brace and Company, 1921), 264-265.

MIXED MESSAGES episode five – Steve

Posted in Autobiography, Interviews, Media Archive, Passing, United States, Videos on 2022-03-21 16:18Z by Steven

MIXED MESSAGES episode five – Steve

Mixed Messages
2022-03-20

Sarah Doneghy, Host

Steve [Majors] discusses his book, “High Yella.” He tells what it was like growing up in a Black family and being told he was Black, to being white assumed as an adult while raising two Black daughters. In his search for identity, Steve discovers being Black is not only skin deep.

Tags: Mixed Messages, Sarah Doneghy, Steve Majors

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“Perceptions of mixedness are still so frustratingly binary and often centred around whiteness.”

Posted in Excerpts/Quotes on 2021-05-24 18:01Z by Steven

“I wrote Mixed/Other to add some much-needed nuance to a conversation that is so frequently stilted and oversimplified in mainstream spaces. Perceptions of mixedness are still so frustratingly binary and often centred around whiteness – I wanted to challenge those narratives and open a more inclusive conversation. I wanted to tell stories or joy, hope and belonging as well as the more painful and sometimes complicated parts of being mixed. It’s the book I wanted to read in my teens and early twenties.” —Natalie Morris

Isabella Silvers, “Natalie Morris: “Ideas of mixedness are binary and centred around whiteness”,” Mixed Messages, April 19, 2021. https://mixedmessages.substack.com/p/natalie-morris-ideas-of-mixedness.

Tags: Isabella Silvers, Mixed Messages, Natalie Morris

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Mixed Messages Episode Two – Erika.

Posted in Autobiography, Interviews, Media Archive, United States, Videos on 2021-05-05 02:43Z by Steven

Mixed Messages Episode Two – Erika.

Mixed Messages
2021-04-21

Sarah Doneghy, Host

Erika discusses being Mixed Race within her family, her jobs, and the places she’s lived. Erika shares her thoughts and personal experiences when it comes to code switching and light privilege.

Tags: Mixed Messages, Mixed Messages with Sarah Doneghy, Sarah Doneghy

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