Mixed Race Studies

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

Are You Positively Sure That You Are Not Part Negro? Read This.

The discovery recently, that a presumably white soldier was part Negro, brought forth the following comment, as to the facts portrayed in this little volume, from Mr. John D. Barry, in a recent article of the San Francisco News:—

“The case of the army officer whose death has been the means of apparently revealing him as legally a Negro wasn’t wholly astonishing. It astonished only those unfamiliar with the extent of the blood mixture in this country. The book published a few years ago by Louis Fremont Baldwin. “From Negro to Caucassian.” showed that the mixture had been going on for a long time and that a good many people who passed as white were Negroes. According to our law anyone who has any Negro blood is a Negro.

Most Negroes understand the situation. Among them the word “passing” is commonly used. It refers to those who have succeeded in crossing the color line without detection. Though they don’t admire the resorters to “passing,” though they consider “passing” a repudiation of sacred ties, a denial of loyalty, they know only too well the motive behind it, the natural longing to escape from discriminations and penalties. Louis Fremont Baldwin says there are thousands in this country who are accepted as white and know they are Negroes. He also says there are still more thousands who are Negroes and believe themselves to be white.

As black blood is absorbed into the white stream he claims that it tends to disappear.”

Louis Fremont Baldwin, From Negro to Caucasian: or, How the Ethiopian is Changing His Skin, (San Francisco: Pilot Publishing Company, 1929): i.

Dublin has problems. But I am proud to be part of a growing Irish mixed-race grouping…

Posted in Excerpts/Quotes on 2013-09-03 02:43Z by Steven

Dublin has problems. But I am proud to be part of a growing Irish mixed-race grouping, and to be able to see mixed-race people representing Ireland on the world stage whether it’s the new Rose of Tralee Clare Kambamettu, actresses Ruth Negga and Samantha Mumba, TV presenters Baz Ashmawy and Seán Musanje, or sportsmen such as Stephen Reid, Clinton Morrison, the Ó hAilpín brothers, or the late Darren Sutherland.

Zélie Asava, “the truth about dublin — an unfair city,” The Evening Herald, October 2, 2010. http://www.herald.ie/lifestyle/the-truth-about-dublin-an-unfair-city-27963389.html.

Tags: Dublin, Ireland, The Evening Herald, Zélie Asava

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The Truth About Dublin—An Unfair City

Posted in Articles, Autobiography, Europe, Media Archive, Social Science on 2011-03-07 18:32Z by Steven

The Truth About Dublin—An Unfair City

The Evening Herald
Dublin, Ireland
2010-10-02

Zélie Asava

The tradition of a big Irish welcome isn’t always evident to a mixed-race Irish woman in Dublin, writes Zélie Asava

“So where are you from?”

“Dublin .”

“No, like originally”

This is a conversation I have with people on average once every two days. I am a mixed-race Irish woman. But when I tell people that I’m Irish they ask: “Where are you really from?” Instead of red hair and freckles, I have brown hair and skin. Sometimes I tell people I’m from London. After that they don’t ask again because London—unlike Dublin—is regarded as a racial melting pot.

The alternative involves explaining why and how I am from Dublin—where I was born, where my mother is from, where I went to school, where my father is from, and of course, how he met my mother. This sparks other questions like: “How would a Kenyan ever meet an Irish woman?” And: “Are you from Africa?” Understandably, when you’re having the same conversation over and over again, this gets tiresome…

Read the entire article here.

Tags: Dublin, Ireland, The Evening Herald, Zélie Asava

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Mixed Race Studies

Dublin has problems. But I am proud to be part of a growing Irish mixed-race grouping…

The Truth About Dublin—An Unfair City

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