Multiracial Multiracial Jennifer Carter and Sheana MurphyJennifer Carter and Sheana Murphy
Ball State University Ball State University
Discussion Questions What do you think of when you hear
“Multiracial” or “Biracial” Do certain images or people come to mind?
Does anyone identify as multiracial? What does being multiracial mean to you? Can you tell us any experiences that you have
had (positive/negative)?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehhxGC0cd4E
Discussion Barack Obama
White mother from Kansas
African American father from Kenya
The media has continued to call Obama the nation’s first major party “Black President,” even though he is technically biracial
What are your reactions to this?
How do you think this may make a biracial American feel?
Famous Individuals Tiger Woods
Vin Diesel
“The Rock”
Halle Berry
Derek Jeter
Barack Obama
Miscegenation History
“Race Mixing”
People of mixed heritage have been citizens of this country since the inception
The first interracial marriage in U.S. history was the marriage of John Rolfe and Pocahontas in 1614
In Jamestown, the first biracial Americans were children of African American-Caucasian, Caucasian-Indian, and African American-Indian unions
Interracial marriages were not well accepted in the colonies and were often made illegal
With the introduction of slaves in the United States, laws were created to keep the races separate
Miscegenation History
Laws prohibiting miscegenation since 1661
Prohibiting laws common up to 1967
1661: Virginia passed a law prohibiting interracial marriages and prohibited ministers from marrying interracial couples
1691: Virginia required women who gave birth to a biracial child to pay a fine or face servitude (five years for herself, thirty years for her child)
Maryland: Women who married an African American man had to serve her husbands owner as long as she was married to him
1715: Maryland made cohabitation between an African American and Caucasian unlawful
By the Civil War, five states had anti-miscegenation laws
Loving v. Commonwealth of Virginia
1967
Perry Loving, a white man, married wife Mildred Jeter, an African American and American Indian wife in Washington, D.C. because biracial marriages were at the time illegal in Virginia
When they returned, they were arrested while sleeping in bed because “they were breaking the law”
The judge governing the case gave the couple the option of spending one year in jail or moving to another state
Loving v. Virginia continued
The couple moved to Washington, D.C. and appealed their case, which eventually made it to the Supreme Court
The court ultimately found the laws against interracial marriage unconstitutional
The Chief Justice stated, “Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry or not marry a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed upon by the state.”
With this court decision, all remaining anti-miscegenation laws in the country were null and void
“One Drop Rule” The idea that someone even with one distant
African relative is black
This belief was made popular because it ensured that children from biracial heritage would remain slaves
“It is a fact that, if a person is known to have one percent of African blood in his veins, he ceases to be a white man. The ninety-nine percent of Caucasian blood does not weigh by the side of the one percent of African blood. The white blood counts for nothing. The person is Negro every time.” – Booker T. Washington, 1900
Census 2000 First time the Census Bureau allowed citizens to
check as many racial categories as the person felt applied
Before this: 1790: People were placed into one of three categories:
free white male, free white female, and other persons (i.e. slaves, American Indian, and free African Americans)
1890: Census added more categories like Chinese, Mulatto, Quadroon, Japanese, and American Indian
1910: Census eliminated the terms Mulatto, Quadroon, and Octoroon; People who qualified for these categories were then counted as African American
1990: The following racial categories were available: White, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Eskimo/Aleut, or Other
Percent Distribution of Population of Two or More Races
White and American Indian and Alaska Native: 15.9
White and Asian: 12.7
White and African American: 11.5
African American and American Indian and Alaska Native: 2.7
All other combinations: 50.5
Three or more races 6.7
Population reporting two or more races was 2.4 percent of the total population
Census, 2000
Stereotypes What are some multiracial stereotypes?
How have the people who identify as multiracial been stereotyped? Can you share your experiences?
According to Shih, Sanchez, Bonam, & Peck (2007), multiracial individuals are more likely to have a heightened awareness of race as a social construct than monoracial individuals.
Do you agree?
The results indicated that multiracial participants subscribed less to the notion that racial differences were biologically based, were more likely to inhibit stereotypes in response to race salience, and were less affected by race-based stereotypes than were monoracial participants.
Models of Biracial Identity
Early Models 1937: Racial Hybrids
1971: Afro-American Racial Identity Model
1978: 3 Stage Model of Identity Development
1. Aware of differences
2. Struggling for acceptance
3. Accepting biracial identity
Kich (1992): Developed a 3 stage model of identity specifically for biracial adults of Japanese and White ancestry.
1979: Minority Identity Development (MID)
Current Models Ecological Identity Model
5 Positive Outcomes of Identity Development
1. Acceptance of ascribed identity
2. Identification with both racial groups
3. Identification with a single racial group
4. Identification with a new group
5. Adoption of a symbolic race or ethnicity
Root (1999) notes that a multiracial individual may choose to identify with one or another group depending on factors such as:
Environment, personal history, family influence, gender, social class
Current Models Cont.. Black/White Biracial Identity Development
Developed by Henricksen
Based on 6 stages:
1. Neutrality
2. Acceptance
3. Awareness
4. Experimentation
5. Transition
6. Recogniton
Not distinct states
Fluid & Ongoing
Environment
Current Models Cont… Progressive Development Model
4 Identity Outcomes
1. Personal Identity
2. Choice of group categorization
3. Enmeshment/denial
4. Integration
What do they all have in common? Influence of environment
Statutes NOT Stages
More than one outcome of successful multiracial identity
Others influence the individuals choice of identity
Pedrotti, J.T., Lopez, S.J., & Edwards, L.M. (2008). Working with clients in therapy: Bridging theory, research, and practice. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 39, No. 2, 192-201.
Multiracial Bill of Rights
Resistence I have the right not to:
Justify my existence in this world.
Keep the races separate within me.
Be responsible for people’s discomfort with my physical ambiguity.
Justify my ethnic legitimacy.
Multiracial Bill of Rights Revolution
I have the right to:
Identify myself differently than strangers expect me to.
Identify myself differently from how my parents identify me.
Identify myself differently than my brothers and sisters.
Identify myself differently in different situations.
Change
I have the right to:
Create a vocabulary to communicate about being multiracial.
Change my identity over my lifetime – and more than once.
Have loyalties and identity with more than one group of people.
Choose freely whom I befriend and love.
Best Therapeutic Technique?
Solution-focused technique Concept of empowerment
Client Is the expert achievement empowerment
Discuss strengths and weaknesses
The client may possess strengths he/she has not recognized
Pedrotti, J.T., Lopez, S.J., & Edwards, L.M. (2008). Working with clients in therapy: Bridging theory, research, and practice. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 39, No. 2, 192-201.
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