Mixed Race Studies

Multiracial College Students and Institutions of Higher Education

Engaged Learning Collection
2013-04-15
Paper 20
18 pages

Jacqueline V. Ross
Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas

The multiracial student population is one of the fastest growing populations in the United States. The growth in students of two or more racial backgrounds is grounds for recognizing and acceptance of campuses of higher education. The purpose of this study was to look at the experiences of multiracial students and what it means for institutions of higher education through an integrated communication framework (theorists, year; theorist, year; theorist, year). This study employed a phenomenological approach and used a semi-structured interview style with 10 self-identified multiracial students from Southern Methodist University (SMU). SMU is a middle sized, private, conservative, liberal arts, Greek life driven and predominately White institution in the South.

The primary research questions was: what does the increase of the multiracial student population mean for institutions of higher education in regards to student inclusion, exclusion, academic success, social life, retention and future alumni relations. In particular to students at a middle sized, private, conservative, liberal arts, Greek life driven and predominately White institution in the South.

Overall four key findings emerged: (1) Students felt like SMU had not recognized their multiracial backgrounds, (2) students flourished when they had a supportive group or community, (3) there is ignorance on SMU’s campus of racial diversity within single individuals, and (4) the climate of SMU’s campus contributed to being excluded from the general student population or from one of their own racial groups.

This study found that students had positive and negative experiences in relations to being multiracial. These experiences have shaped them an in turn have affected their academic success, social life, retention and future alumni relations. Because of these findings, institutions of higher education must proactively support multiracial students and help to change campus climates for more inclusion and acceptance of multiracial students.

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Just Between Sisters: Gender, Race, Class, Sexuality, and Relationships of Mixed-Race Women and Girls (AMS) (HRJ) (GEN) (HUM) HUMN 7302

Southern Methodist University
Fall 2012

Evelyn L. Parker, Associate Professor of Practical Theology

In 1967 the US Supreme Court ruled state miscegenation laws unconstitutional. Instituted in 1691, the state laws sought to prevent sexual mixing across racial lines protecting the “purity” of European Americans. Since 1967 the population of mixed-race children has more than tripled. Among the demands of mixed-race people have been new census policy that recognizes various ways of expressing their identity. Additionally, the mixed-race movement has raised awareness about their experiences and inspired the development of Mixed-race Studies in academic settings. Among the many issues of Mixed-race Studies there are questions about female relationships and intersectional questions of race, gender, class, and sexuality that merit examination. The intersectional questions refer to Kimberle Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality, ways in which race and gender interact to shape the multiple dimensions of black women’s lives. Crenshaw argues that the intersection of racism and sexism operate in black women’s lives in ways that a single dimensional analysis fails to reveal. This course builds on Crenshaw’s concept to explore the various ways race, gender, class and sexuality intersect in shaping the identity of mixed-race women and girls and their relationships with other women and girls. Through the use of novels, memoirs, and film, this course focuses on intersectional and relational questions of first generation African/African Diasporic (black) and European (white) mixed-race women and girls. This course may be applied to the following curricular field concentrations: American Studies, Gender Studies, Human Rights and Social Justice, and Humanities.

Brown Bag: Mixed-race tension in early America

The Daily Campus: The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915
Dallas, Texas
2011-09-21

Logan May

The struggle of mixed race families in Southwest America was a daunting issue in the early 19th century.

As part of the Brown Bag Lecture Series of the Southwest, SMU Director of Southwest Studies Andrew Graybill shared a detailed account of a mixed White-Native American family from Montana who faced an exponential amount of racial discrimination.

In the Texana Room of DeGolyer Library Wednesday afternoon, listeners gathered and silently snacked on their lunches as Graybill spoke of the Clarke family.

“To walk in two worlds was impossible,” Graybill said, “whites looked at mixed blood with repulsion.”

His book, entitled A Mixture of So Many Bloods, recalled the life of Helen Clarke and the backlash she received for being the daughter of a white man and a Native American woman. At this time in the early 1800s, marriage within the two races was common, and children served as brokers between the two groups. Helen’s father had a prominent role as a fur trader; therefore, the family was often the talk of the town…

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