Example Workshop on "Black" Multiracial Identity

Example of a Workshop Delivered at:

The 6th Annual Pan-Collegiate Conference on the Mixed Race Experience

April 14, 2002

Zebulon Miletsky, Ph.D. Candidate, Workshop Facilitator                                                                                                                       

Workshop Theme:
Beyond the One Drop Rule: Exploring "Black" Multiracial Identity

Most people who identify as biracial or multiracial have been told by society at one time or another that they have "the best of both worlds". It is an ideal that flies in the face of traditional notions of race in American society and is at times a difficult one to live up to.  This workshop will discuss the reality of being mixed in a country that has since its inception thought within the very narrow terms of black and white.  Is it possible to have the best of both worlds?  Do people with one parent who is black feel more pressure to identify monoracially than other multiracials?  How does the so-called "one-drop rule" affect "black" multiracial identity?  What is "black" multiracial identity?  Hasn't the African-American community, because of its legacy of slavery, always been mixed?  We will discuss these and other issues while we explore the possibilities for a “black” multiracial identity beyond the one-drop rule.

Beyond the One-Drop Rule: Exploring “Black” Multiracial Identity

Overview: ·       Introduction ·       Brief History of Mixed Race in America Discussion Questions: ·       Is it possible to have the best of both worlds? ·       Do people with one parent who is black feel more pressure to identify monoracially than other multiracials? ·       How does the so-called “one-drop rule” affect “black” multiracial identity? ·       What is “black” multiracial identity? ·       Hasn’t the African-American community, because of its legacy of slavery, always been mixed? ·       How do “black” multiracials fit into the mixed race movement?

Resources: Korgen, Kathleen Odell. From Black to Biracial: Transforming Identity Among Americans. Westport, CT.: Praeger, 1998. Malcolmson, Scott. One Drop of Blood: The American Misadventure of Race. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2000. Spencer, Jon Michael. The New Colored People: The Mixed-Race Movement in America. New York: New York University Press, 1997. Spencer, Rainier. Spurious Issues: Race and Multiracial Identity Politics in the United States. Boulder, Co.: Westview Press, 1999.