Mixed Race Studies

Fading Roles of Fictive Kinship: Mixed-Blood Racial Isolation and United States Indian Policy in the Lower Missouri River Basin, 1790-1830

Kansas State University, Manhattan
2012
124 pages

Zachary Charles Isenhower

A THESIS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS Department of History College of Arts and Sciences

On June 3, 1825, William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and eleven representatives of the “Kanzas” nation signed a treaty ceding their lands to the United States. The first to sign was “Nom-pa-wa-rah,” the overall Kansa leader, better known as White Plume. His participation illustrated the racial chasm that had opened between Native- and Anglo- American worlds. The treaty was designed to ease pressures of proximity in Missouri and relocate multiple nations West of the Mississippi, where they believed they would finally be beyond the American lust for land.

White Plume knew different. Through experience with U.S. Indian policy, he understood that land cessions only restarted a cycle of events culminating in more land cessions. His identity as a mixed-blood, by virtue of the Indian-white ancestry of many of his family, opened opportunities for that experience. Thus, he attempted in 1825 to use U.S. laws and relationships with officials such as William Clark to protect the future of the Kansa. The treaty was a cession of land to satisfy conflicts, but also a guarantee of reserved land, and significantly, of a “halfbreed” tract for mixed-blood members of the Kansa Nation.

Mixed-blood go-betweens stood for a final few moments astride a widening chasm between Anglo-American and native worlds. It was a space that less than a century before offered numerous opportunities for mixed-blood people to thrive as intermediaries, brokers, traders, and diplomats. They appeared, albeit subtly, in interactions wherever white and Native worlds overlapped. As American Indians lost their economic viability and eventually their land, that overlap disappeared. White Plume’s negotiation of a reserve for his descendants is telling of a group left without a place. In bridging the two worlds, mixed-bloods became a group that by the mid-nineteenth century was defined as “other” by Anglo-American and Indians alike. This study is the first to track these evolving racial constructs and roles over both time and place. Previous studies have examined mixed-blood roles, but their identity is portrayed as static. This study contends that their roles changed with the proximity and viability of full-blood communities with which white officials had to negotiate.

Table of Contents

• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgements
• Dedication
• Chapter 1 – A Supporting Cast: Mixed-Blood Indians in the Historical Narrative of the Frontier
  • Introduction
  • A Frontier From Each Side
  • Negotiated Social Norms
  • An Evolution of Perception
• Chapter 2 – Thriving In-Between: Mixed-Blood Indians Before 1790
  • Nous sommes touts Sauvages: White and Indian in the “Middle Ground”
  • Domino Theory: Trade, Allies, and Foreign Policy
  • “Probably Thou Are Not a Chief:” The United States Enters as a Frontier Power
• Chapter 3 – Racialization and Reduced Leverage: Perceptions and Realities of the Frontier in the Jeffersonian Vision
  • Fathers and Brothers: Mixed-Blood Indians and the Genesis of Assimilationist Policy
  • Hospitable Savages
• Chapter 4 – A Chasm Opens: Land Cession and the Loss of Place After the Fur Trade
  • “Ardent Spirits:” Decline of the Fur Trade, Adaptation, and the Deterioration of “Full-Blood” Communities
  • “The Bad Feeling That Now Exists:” Land Cession and a Perception of Betrayal
  • Conclusion
• Bibliography

Read the entire dissertation here.

Rocky Point’s African American Past:  A Forgotten History Remembered through Historical Archaeology at the Betsey Prince Site

Long Island History Journal
Volume 22, Issue 1 (Winter 2011)
60 paragraphs

Allison Manfra McGovern
Department of Anthropology
The Graduate Center, City University of New York

North Country Road in the wilderness of Rocky Point, that was occupied during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As many as eight free people of color lived in the house at one point, and other free black households were established nearby. In this article, multiple lines of evidence are used to reconstruct the history and composition of the African American settlement at Rocky Point and the lifeways expressed at the Betsey Prince site. This analysis, which depends on an understanding of the socio-historical context of the site, emphasizes social interactions, labor, domestic activities, identity construction, and the fate of the community.

Archaeologists from the New York State Museum uncovered the foundation remains of a small house along North Country Road in Rocky Point, New York, in 1991. The house was occupied during parts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, then left abandoned in the wilderness for roughly 150 years. The site was rediscovered during a cultural resources survey, performed by archaeologists for the New York State Department of Transportation, in advance of proposed highway improvements to New York State Route 25A. The small archaeological site, which consisted of a house foundation measuring 11 x 13 feet and associated archaeological deposits, was identified as the home of Betsey Prince through census data and deeds for adjacent properties.

Betsey Prince was listed as the head of a household in the 1820 Federal census. Her household was one of four comprised entirely of free people of color and located on North Country Road in Rocky Point in the early nineteenth century. The household was documented as early as 1790 (and was likely inhabited even earlier), but the occupants were variously identified as Prince, Prince Jessup, Rice Jessup, Betty Jessup, Betty or Betsey Prince, and Elizabeth Jessup in Federal census data, deeds, a tax document, and a probate inventory. In addition to the variety of names, the inhabitants and neighbors of the Betsey Prince site were racially identified with variance, as “colored,” “negro,” “black,” “mulatto,” and “mustey.” For the sake of consistency, they will be referred to here as free black people.

The archaeological site was determined eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places because it could provide information about people who lived in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries that we know little about – free black people. The site was excavated by archaeologists because impending plans to widen New York State Route 25A would destroy it. The artifacts (stored at the New York State Museum) provide evidence of the everyday lives of the people who lived at the Betsey Prince site. Archival research aided in connecting names and identities with the site. Together, these resources provide the basis for a narrative of lifeways for a group that was marginal to history, but integral to the functioning of a rural, early American economy.

A prolonged abolition of slavery was facilitated throughout New York State by the Gradual Emancipation Act of 1799. Although the promise of freedom was made, many people of color remained legally enslaved in New York until 1827. During this time, many small and large white households held enslaved Africans, and some such households were listed near the free black settlement at Rocky Point. The presence of the free black settlement would have been conspicuous among the predominantly white communities of rural Long Island. However, they were part of a diverse non-white population, which included captive Africans and Indians, and people of color who were both recently freed and born free (on Long Island, or elsewhere and relocated to Long Island from various places, including New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut, and the Caribbean).

How black people negotiated their identities at this time is certainly difficult to understand. The variety of racial categories mentioned above suggests a lack of consistency in how people were both perceived and classified. The inconsistencies in names may point to the biases of census takers, tax assessors, and government clerks, or may be indicative of individual representation. Perhaps different names were given under different circumstances. It is therefore important to consider the role people of color played in constructing their own identities in early America, as it was not uncommon for black people to change their names more than once.

This socio-historical context is essential for interpreting the data from the Betsey Prince archaeological site. Working within a framework that recognizes racism, segregation, the complexities of identity formation, and the struggle for civil liberties will produce insight into the active lives of the site’s occupants. As such, the documents and archaeological evidence from the Betsey Prince site offer a unique opportunity to investigate identity construction through social interactions, labor, domestic activities, and gender…

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Identity of Biracial College Students

San Jose State University
May 1999
77 pages

MyTra Fitzpatrick

A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Child Development San Jose State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts

This thesis examined the identity of biracial college students and the relationship between parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive) and biracial identity development. Biracial subjects were defined as individuals having parents who were from two different ethnic/racial groups. Of the total of 104 subjects, 65 students were classified into one of three mixed-groups categories according to the two ethiucities of their parents: Asian/Euro-American, Asian/Latino, and Latino/Euro-American. Results showed that students identified strongly with one or both ethnicities, and that strong bicultural identity was associated with positive self-esteem. The majority of parents utilized authoritative parenting styles, regardless of their ethnic mix. While authoritative parents were more likely to have offspring who exhibited higher levels of bicultural identity and self-esteem, these results were not statistically significant. These findings are consistent with the parenting styles literature and with studies showing positive identity for biracial students.

Table of Contents

• List of Tables
• Chapter 1: Introduction to the Problem
  • Interracial Marriages
  • Definition of Biracial Individuals
  • Statement of the Problem and Purpose of this Study
• Chapter 2: Review of the Literature
  • Research on Biracial Individuals
  • Identity Development: Definitions and Theories
  • Identity Development of Ethnic Minority Individuals
  • Identity Development of Biracial Individuals
  • Parenting Styles and the Relationship to Biracial Adolescents’ Social and Emotional Development
    • Baumrind’s Four Dimensions of Parental Behavior
    • Baumrind’s Three Parenting Style Typologies
    • Ethnic Differences in Parenting Styles
• Chapter 3: Methodology
  • Participants
  • Materials
  • Procedure
• Chapter 4: Results
• Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusions
• References
• Appendix A

List of Tables

1. Who Students Live With by Ethnicity of Parents
2. Percent of Students who Identified with Their Mom vs. Their Dad
3. Identity Strength for Group 1 by Ethnicity of Parents
4. Identity Strength for Group 2 by Ethnicity of Parents
5. Bicultural Identity from Low to High by Ethnicity of Parents
6. Mean Scores for Identity Items by Primary Identity Group
7. Reasons Student Select for Identifying with Primary Ethnic Identity Group
8. Mean Score of Self-Esteem by Primary Ethnic Identity
9. Mean Score of Self-Esteem by Bicultural Identity
10. Mean Score of Self-Esteem by Ethnicity of Parents
11. Parenting Styles by Ethnic Mix-Groups of Parents
12. Percent of Parents Using Each Parenting Styles by Bicultural Identity of Child.
13. Mean Self-Esteem Scores by Parenting Styles

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The Language Trap: U.S. Passing Fiction and its Paradox

University of Kansas
2009
181 pages

Masami Sugimori, Instructor of English
University of South Alabama

Submitted to the graduate degree program in English and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Through exploration of William Faulkner’s, James Weldon Johnson’s and Nella Larsen’s “passing novels,” this dissertation points out that narrative representation of racial passing facilitates and compromises the authors’ challenge to the white-dominant ideology of early-twentieth-century America. I reveal that, due to their inevitable dependence on language, these authors draw paradoxically on the white-dominant ideology that they aim to question, especially its system of binary racial categorization. While the “white” body of a “passing” character serves the novelists as a subversive force in white-supremacist society (which depends on the racial other to define “whiteness”), language, which is essentially ideological, traps the writers in racial binary and continually suggests that, while the character looks white, s/he is really black. Accordingly, the authors have to write under the constraints of the problem that American discourse of race must and, for the most part, does systematically suppress its own essential fictiveness.

Table of Contents

• Abstract
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: The Passing Paradox: Representing Racial Chaos within the Symbolic Order
• Chapter 1: Racial Mixture, Racial Passing, and White Subjectivity in William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!
• Chapter 2: Signifying, Ordering, and Containing the Chaos: Whiteness, Ideology, and Language in William Faulkner’s Intruder in the Dust
• Chapter 3: Narrative Order and Racial Hierarchy: James Weldon Johnson’s Double-Consciousness and “White” Subjectivity in The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and Along This Way
• Chapter 4: Ordering the Racial Chaos, Chaoticizing the Racial Order: Nella Larsen’s Narrative of Indeterminacy and Invisibility in Passing
• Conclusion: Toward a Language for the Real, Chaotic and Unnamable
• Notes
• Works Cited

Read the entire dissertation here.

Biracial in America: Forming and Performing Racial Identity

Lexington Books (a division Rowman & Littlefield publishing group)
2011-08-28
224 pages
Cloth ISBN: 0-7391-4574-6 / 978-0-7391-4574-6
Electronic ISBN: 0-7391-4576-2 / 978-0-7391-4576-0

Nikki Khanna, Associate Professor of Sociology
University of Vermont

Elected in 2008, Barack Obama made history as the first African American President of the United States. Though recognized as the son of his white Kansas-born mother and his Kenyan father, the media and public have nonetheless pigeonholed him as black, and he too self-identifies as such. Obama’s experiences as a biracial American with black and white ancestry, although compelling because of his celebrity, however, is not unique and raises several questions about the growing number of black-white biracial Americans today: How are they perceived by others with regard to race? How do they tend to identify? And why? Taking a social psychological approach, this book identifies influencing factors and several underlying processes shaping racial identity. Unlike previous studies which examine racial identity as if it was a one-dimensional concept, this book examines two dimensions of identity—a public dimension (how they identify themselves to others) and an internalized dimension (how they see themselves internally)—noting that both types of identity may not mesh, and in fact, they may be quite different from one another. Moreover, this study investigates the ways in which biracial Americans perform race in their day-to-day lives. One’s race isn’t simply something that others prescribe onto the individual, but something that individuals “do.” The strategies and motivations for performing black, white, and biracial identities are explored.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: Questions of Identity
• Chapter 2: Black and White in America: Then and Now
• Chapter 3: Through the “Looking Glass”: Reflected Appraisals and the One Drop Rule
• Chapter 4: The Push and Pull of Day-to-Day Interactions
• Chapter 5: Social Comparisons and Social Networks
• Chapter 6: Identity Work: Strategies and Motivations
• Chapter 7: Concluding Thoughts

“If You’re Half Black, You’re Just Black”: Reflected Appraisals and the Persistence of the One-Drop Rule

Sociological Quarterly
Volume 51 Issue 1 (Winter 2010)
Pages 96 – 121
Published Online: 2010-01-15
DOI: 10.1111/j.1533-8525.2009.01162.x

Nikki Khanna, Associate Professor of Sociology
University of Vermont

Despite growing interest in multiracial identity, much of the research remains atheoretical and limited in its approach to measuring identity. Taking a multidimensional approach to identity and drawing on reflected appraisals (how they think others see them), I examine racial identity among black-white adults in the South and the lingering influence of the one-drop rule. Most respondents internally identify as black and when asked to explain these black identities, they describe how both blacks and whites see them as black. I argue that the one-drop rule still shapes racial identity, namely through the process of reflected appraisals.

…To address this gap in the literature, I draw on interview data with 40 black-white biracial adults currently living in the South and examine how reflected appraisals shape their racial identities. Because I am looking at racial identity among people with black ancestry, I also look at how the one-drop rule influences the reflected appraisal process (and hence identity). Few studies seriously engage reflected appraisals as a determinant of racial identity, and none examine the way in which the one-drop rule affects reflected appraisals. Additionally, I interview black-white biracial people who are currently living in the South for two reasons. First, the one-drop rule is historically rooted in Southern slavery and the Jim Crow segregation in the South, and recent empirical research suggests that the one-drop rule continues to shape black identities in the South (Harris and Sim 2002; Brunsma 2005, 2006).  Second, little attention has been given to this region in previous studies. While quantitative studies suggest that the one-drop rule still impacts identity in the South, little qualitative work examines black-white identity within this context (see Rockquemore and Brunsma 2002a for an exception)….

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The Ordinary Conception of Race in the United States and Its Relation to Racial Attitudes: A New Approach

Journal of Cognition and Culture
Volume 9, Issue 1 (2009)
pages 15-38
DOI: 10.1163/156853709X414610

Joshua Glasgow, Lecturer of Philosophy
Sonoma State University
also Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Victoria University of Wellington.

Julie L. Shulman, Assistant Professor of Pyschology
Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California

Enrique G. Covarrubias

Many hold that ordinary race-thinking in the USA is committed to the ‘one-drop rule‘, that race is ordinarily represented in terms of essences, and that race is ordinarily represented as a biological (phenotype- and/or ancestry-based, non-social) kind. This study investigated the extent to which ordinary race-thinking subscribes to these commitments. It also investigated the relationship between different conceptions of race and racial attitudes. Participants included 449 USA adults who completed an Internet survey. Unlike previous research, conceptions of race were assessed using concrete vignettes. Results indicate widespread rejection of the one-drop rule, as well as the use of a complex combination of ancestral, phenotypic, and social (and, therefore, non-essentialist) criteria for racial classification. No relationship was found between racial attitudes and essentialism, the one-drop rule, or social race-thinking; however, ancestry-based and phenotype-based classification criteria were associated with racial attitudes. These results suggest a complicated relationship between conceptions of race and racial attitudes.

Family Dynamics Between Arab Muslim parents, Western Parents and Their Bi-ethnic Children

California State University, Sacramemto
Spring 2011
75 pages

Yasmine Binghalib

THESIS Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in COUNSELING (Marriage, Family and Child Counseling)

Families made up of one an Arab Muslim parent, Western parent and their children were examined to find out what unique dynamics and issues they face. Bi-ethnic Arab and American participants completed a questionnaire about demographics and underwent an in-depth interview that explored their experiences as a bi-ethnic person and the dynamics within their families. Participants reported a variety of experiences, though certain themes were extrapolated from their responses. Participants either identified more strongly with their Western mother or their Middle Eastern father. Feelings of marginalization were identified as part of the bi-cultural Arab and American experience as well as some identity confusion. Participants also reported that they felt unable to disclose as much information about their life to their Middle Eastern fathers as they did their American mothers.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Acknowledgments
• 1. INTRODUCTION
  • Introduction to the Research
  • Rationale for Research
  • Statement of the Problem
  • Definitions
• 2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
  • Introduction
  • Introduction to Arabs and Islam
  • Introduction to Anglo Americans
  • Family Life
  • Marriages
  • Parenting
  • Summary
• 3. DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
  • Introduction
  • Purpose of the Study
  • Research Questions
  • Research Methods and Procedures
  • Sample Population
  • Research Design
  • Research Procedure
  • Analysis
  • Summary
• 4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
  • Introduction
  • Demographics of Participants
  • Family Characteristics
  • Summary
• 5. DISCUSSION
  • Introduction
  • Summary of Study
  • Discussion
  • Limitations
  • Recommendations for Further Research
• Appendix A. Informed Consent
• Appendix B. Questionnaire
• Appendix C. Interview Questions
• References

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Categorization of racial/ethnic identity for racialized and marginalized biracials in the mainland United States

California State University, Sacramento
Spring 2009
169 pages

Estrella Valdez

THESIS Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in SPECIAL MAJOR (Ethnic Studies)

There is no singular agreed-upon understanding of what it means to be identified as biracial in the mainland United States, especially when a person is the product of the union of two marginalized ethnicities. For decades, the hegemonic (white) group has set in place values and social forces that do not allow biracials to fully embrace all parts their ethnic identities. Marginalizing this group has not only led to a misunderstanding of their needs in social and institutional settings, but has caused confusion in the individual when they attempt to define who they are racially. This group of biracials is one of the fastest-growing segments of the United States population; they need to be understood and their needs met. In order to do this, changes in existing laws and socials forces must be addressed. Twelve women, all products of minority-minority unions, were interviewed for this study. Using a qualitative approach, biethnic/biracial participants used their own voices to offer first-hand accounts of their life experiences without persistent hegemonic influences or the influence of the researcher. An examination of the historical construction of race through miscegenation laws, the United States Census, existing studies on biracial self-identfication was also used to determine how and what processes and social conditions impact identity formation. What was ultimately learned from the results of the study is that social class and economics together-not just race serve as the catalyst for the division of society. Participants who had a more stable economic base were more comfortable with their racial self-identity; participants who were raised by a single parent did not have a very stable economic base and struggled more in the formation of their racial self-identity.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Acknowledgments
• List of Tables
• List of Figures
• 1. INTRODUCTION
  • Statement of the Problem
  • Racial Designations
  • Definition of Terms
• 2. LITERATURE REVIEW
  • Historical Construction of Race
    • Subjugation of People of Color
  • Relationship of Identity Formation in the United States
    • Literature Supporting the Role and Rule of Hypodescent as an Influence in Identity Construction
    • Literature Supporting the Effect of Miscegenation Laws as an Influence in Racial Identity Construction
    • Literature Supporting the Effect of the United States Census as an Influence in Racial Identity Construction
  • The Construction of Identity Formation
    • Literature Supporting the Influence of Social and Peer Forces in Racial Identity Construction
    • Literature Supporting the Influence of Parents as Forces in Racial Identity Construction
    • Literature Supporting the Individual as Force in Racial Identity Construction
  • Summary and Conclusion
• 3. METHODOLOGY
  • Introduction and Overview
  • Research Design
    • Criteria
  • Research Questions and Guiding Questions
  • Constraints
  • Data Analysis
  • Summary and Conclusion
• 4. PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
  • Narrative Portraits
    • Morar Suave
    • Mercy Lamb
    • Jenny Jones
    • Ella Bee
    • Hilary Mahler
  • Who Am I?
  • Discussion and Analysis
    • New Census Overview
    • The Multi-Group Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM)
    • Naming: Who am I?
    • How Do I Belong?
  • Where Do I Belong?
  • Where Do I fit With My Parents
  • Summary and Conclusion
• 5. CONCLUSION
  • Reason for the Study
  • Next Steps
• Appendix A. Research Subjects’ Bill of Rights
• Appendix B. Informed Consent
• Appendix C. Ethnic Self-Identification Inventory

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City’s black founding father

Decator Daily
Decatur, Alabama
2010-04-19

Deangelo McDaniel, Staff Writer

Minister, historian reconstructing life of ex-slave who became successful farmer

First in a two-part series

The Rev. Wylheme Ragland would like to spend one day with Robert Murphy.

So would local historian Peggy Allen Towns.

“Just one day,” Ragland said emphatically. “Just one day.”

Murphy, who died June 8, 1918, is one of Decatur’s black founding fathers, Towns and Ragland proclaim.

The former slave is buried in the Cowan section of Decatur City Cemetery and so are many of the secrets that would reveal the River City’s pre-Civil War and Reconstruction history.

Ragland, a United Methodist pastor at the church where Murphy was a trustee, and Towns are determined to reconstruct his life.

Doing so, they say, would fill significant gaps in Decatur’s history and dispel myths about the role of blacks and what happened here in 1864…

…But to understand and appreciate Murphy’s journey you have to go back to Virginia in 1795 when Mary, a slave, was born to the Kimble family.

Mary was his mother.

Traveling from Virginia through North Carolina, she arrived in the Tennessee Valley with the Kimble clan before 1820.

The slave-owning family purchased land in Trinity that extended to the Tennessee River.

In 1831, Murphy was born to Mary and his mother’s owner.

The Kimble family intermarried with the Murphys, who also owned a plantation on the Tennessee River. At some point before the Civil War, Mary and her son became the property of James Murphy

“Where was your home before and during the Civil War?” a government lawyer asked Murphy in 1906.

“About six miles from Decatur,” Murphy answered. “I belonged to James Murphy.”

As was the case for some mulatto (mixed-race) slaves, Murphy had extraordinary privileges for a slave, especially in 1864 when the Union Army fortified Decatur. He told the government he was able to travel between Decatur and Athens where his wife, Harriett, lived.

“My master did not care where I went so long as I did not go to be a soldier,” Murphy said in 1906…

Read the entire article here.