Raising Biracial Children?

Raising Biracial Children?
Free! FIVE Ground Breaking Strategies That Help You to
FINALLY Understand and Communicate With Your Biracial
Children.
By Tiffany Rae Reid
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Raising Biracial Children?
Table of Contents:
Strategy Number I- “Real Talk”………………………………. 2
Strategy Number II- Know the Definitions……….................... 4
Strategy Number III- Understand Racial ……………………...7
Identity Development
Strategy Number IV- Become Your Child’s………………… 9
Expert on Race
Strategy Number V- Resources………………………………. 13
About the Author……………………………………………….18
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Raising Biracial Children?
Strategy Number I
“Real Talk”
Kids are smart. I knew it when I was young and I know it now. If you are a parent, caregiver or
family member reading this book, I am sure that you can recount many a time wherein you found
your child mimicking something you have said or done and it relayed to you the fact that your
child contained more understanding of things “grown” than you were willing to accept. You can
be sure that children see and feel it all. Children see the glances exchanged between parents
during uncomfortable moments. Kids feel the energy in the atmosphere go from positive to
negative when racial undertones are expressed in words or jokes. Hatred is sensed when slurs or
stereotypical talk are expressed by unsuspecting or uncaring people either in person or on the
television.
Children have a unique ability to understand ideas of value and meaning when it comes to others
responding to the color of their skin. For those closest to them and from the onset of their racial
identity development, parents, caregivers, extended family members and educators must be as
conscientious of race and the historical legacy of color as the biracial children they are raising and
impacting.
In order to understand and communicate with your biracial child, it is important to understand
that racial identity development for all people occurs in a set of age appropriate stages and in a
linear fashion. For biracial children in particular, this linear movement proceeds toward a biracial
endpoint. If you are a parent, caregiver, or extended family member raising biracial children, you
must take every factor that could impact your child into consideration. Things like family, school,
neighborhoods, peers and institutional relationships should all be considered if you want to be
able to better understand the stressors and situations that can have a long lasting impact on your
biracial child.
When approaching your child’s racial identity development you must be aware of the
interconnectedness between the factors listed above. You must be vigilant and conscious of the
fact that your biracial child’s daily learning curve is multi-dimensional, fluid and relational to all
entities and situations in which they mind themselves.
Prior to the 1980s racial identity research provided an outline for biracial individuals that was
very restricted in how a biracial individual could chose to identify with the outside world. In fact,
for all of the years leading up to the late 1980s, researches shifted constantly between two very
different identities that they would allow biracial individuals to chose. First, biracial individuals
were identified only as having one black and one white parent. In today’s diverse global world,
there exist more mixtures of racial and cultural components than would have even seemed
possible just a generation ago. For these white/black biracial individuals, researches and social
scientists assumed that only one ideal racial identity existed for products of interracial unions:
exclusively black. This idea was grounded in the historical and cultural norm of the “one drop
rule,” which commanded that any individuals with any black ancestry were designated as
members of the “black race.” Second, within this single scenario, racial identity was not seen as
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something that was negotiable nor did individuals have options or choice. Mixed race individuals
who resisted categorization were seen as “confused” and in “denial.” The “One-drop rule”historical and cultural norm which stated that no matter how far an individual may be removed
generationally from a black ancestor, he can never be classified as white.
In the late 1980s, prominent psychologists began to propose new ideas which in essence stated
that a healthy self-concept requires integration of all an individual’s racial identities. In response
to this new ideology, Carlos Poston developed a Biracial Identity Development (BID) model that
contends that an integrated identity (one that comprises all aspects of an individual’s racial
background) is the healthy ideal and is the self-realized end point of his stage model.
With the presentation of this new “choice” a new option for racial categorization was made
possible for biracial individuals. The “upside” to this new ideology is the fact that biracial
individuals could now be seen as something entirely different from their all white and all black
counterparts. In this new light, mixed race individuals began to grow and cultivate a unique
identity that continues to be challenged even today. It should also be noted that the “downside”
that occurred was a shift in racial identity models that has marginalized singular racial identities
(black) in order to establish legitimacy of biracial and multiracial identities.
Parents raising biracial children should know that the racial identity models that exist and cause a
biracial person to pick one identity over the other (black vs. biracial) are both problematic for the
same reasons as both assume a “one size fits all” solution. The point of this book is to inform
parents and educators raising or impacting the lives of biracial children of a baseline of
knowledge and understanding that must exist before any real dialogue or communication can be
safely exchanged with biracial children and the extended family units that love them. With this
having been said it is important that you always challenge the assumption that there is only one
appropriate way for mixed race people to understand their racial identity. Many may develop
several and different racial identities and all are valid. The greatest challenge for mixed race
people is having adopted a racial identity that is challenged or rejected by others in their
environment.
This environmental response, not the chosen racial identity, poses the greatest risk to the overall
psychological health and functioning for those who are mixed race.
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Raising Biracial Children?
Strategy Number II
Know the Definitions
To understand and accept the differences expressed in physical appearance, behavior, diction and
self-image is to understand, at the heart of everyone involved, the similarities.
So let’s review some definitions:
Biracial- 1) of, for, or consisting of members of two races. 2) Having parents of two different
races.
Ethnicity- Is the cultural characteristics that connect a particular group or groups of people to
each other. “Ethnicity” is sometimes used as a euphemism for “race”, or as a synonym for
minority group. While ethnicity and race are related concepts, the concept of ethnicity is rooted in
the idea of societal groups, marked especially by shared nationality, tribal affiliation,
religious faith, shared language, or cultural and traditional origins and backgrounds, whereas race
is rooted in the idea of biological classification of homo sapiens to subspecies according to
morphological features such as skin color or facial characteristics.
Hypodescent- A long -standing classification norm that relegates multiracial people to the racial
group of the lower-status parent
Identity- 1) Sameness of essential or generic character in different instances 2) sameness in all
that constitutes the objective reality of a thing : oneness 3) the distinguishing character or
personality of an individual: individuality. As you can tell, the term identity can become
confusing when combined with the biologically unreal, yet socially real, construct of race. For the
purpose of this book we will use the definition set forth by Rockquemore and Laszloffy in
Raising Biracial Children: The way we understand ourselves in relation to others and our
social environment.
Identity- The way we understand ourselves in relation to others and our social environment (e.g.,
families, schools, neighborhoods, and houses of worship).
Identity is a social process and not a static, fixed end product that has any type of permanence
attached to it. Our self understanding is in a continual state of evolution with the process
occurring over an ongoing series of highly complex and coded interactions.
Racial Identity- Is an ongoing process of understanding one’s self racially in relation to others
and amidst societal definitions of racial group membership.
Transcendent Identity- Having no racial identity or disregarding race altogether. This option is
more likely to be found among those who are comfortable in the communities of both their
backgrounds in roughly equal amounts. Transcendent individuals claim to opt out of the
categorization game altogether, instead nurturing self-understandings that are not grounded in
race.
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Miscegenation– Refers to sexual relations between people from different racial groups. It stems
from the Latin words “miscere” and “genus,” which mean “to mix” and “race,” respectively.
Various American states prohibited miscegenation, also referred to as race-mixing, until the
Supreme Court ruled in Loving v. Virginia that anti-miscegenation laws violated the 14th
Amendment.
Mulatto -Denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person
of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the
broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white
and black ancestry choose to self-identify as mulatto. Some reject the term because of its
association with slavery and colonial and racial oppression, preferring terms such as “mixed”,
“biracial”, “brown”, and “African-American” (in Americas). Mulattos may also be an admixture
of Indians and African Americans according to Henings Statues of Virginia 1705, which reads as
follows: “And for clearing all manner of doubts which hereafter may happen to arise upon the
construction of this act, or any other act, who shall be accounted a mulatto, Be it enacted and
declared, and it is hereby enacted and declared, That the child of an Indian and the child, grand
child, or great grand child, of a negro shall be deemed, accounted, held and taken to be a
mulatto.” Mulatto existed as an official census category until 1930. In the Southern United
States, mulattoes inherited slave status if their mothers were slaves. As for free mulattoes, in
Spanish- and French-influenced areas of the South prior to the Civil War (particularly New
Orleans, Louisiana]), a number of mulattoes were free and slave-owning. Although it is
sometimes used to describe individuals of mixed European and African descent, it originally
referred to anyone with mixed ethnicities; in fact, in the United States, “mulatto” was also used as
a term for those who were African American and Native American ancestry during the early
census years. Mulatto was also used interchangeably with terms like “turk”, leading to further
ambiguity when referring to many North Africans and Middle Easterners. In the 2000 United
States census 6,171 Americans self-identified with mulatto ancestry. In addition, the term
“mulatto” was also used to refer to the offspring of whites who intermarried with South Asian
indentured servants brought over to the British American colonies by the East India Company.
For example, a Eurasian daughter born to a South Asian father and Irish mother in Maryland in
1680 was classified as a “mulatto” and sold into slavery. Although still in use, in the last half
century the term mulatto has fallen out of favor among some people and may be considered
offensive by some in the United States. Today the preferred terms are generally biracial,
multiracial, mixed-race and multiethnic.
Multiracial- 1) made up of, involving, or acting on behalf of various races: a multiracial society.
2) Having ancestors of several or various races.
Nationality- The status of belonging to a particular nation, whether by birth or naturalization
One-drop rule- Historical and cultural norm which stated that no matter how far an individual
may be removed generationally from a black ancestor, he can never be classified as white.
Race- 1) A local geographic or global human population distinguished as a more or less distinct
group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics. 2) A group of people united or classified
together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution: the German
race. 3) A genealogical line; a lineage. 4) Humans considered as a group.
**The biological aspect of race is described today not in observable physical features but rather
in such genetic characteristics as blood groups and metabolic processes, and the groupings
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indicated by these factors seldom coincide very neatly with those put forward by earlier physical
anthropologists. Citing this and other points-such as the fact that a person who is considered black
in one society might be non black in another-many cultural anthropologists now consider race to
be more a social or mental construct than an objective biological fact.**
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Raising Biracial Children?
Strategy Number III
Understand Racial Identity Development
Children come to learn about race through their interactions with others and through the context
of these interactions they come to understand who they are in this world.
As parents, caregivers, extended family members and educators, we must know The Role of
Validation and Rejection: This term refers to the process of how biracial individuals come to
know and understand whether their racial identity is validated or rejected by others. This
validation or rejection is always and constantly being communicated through various verbal and
nonverbal messages. These messages reveal how others perceive us as well as how they feel
about what they perceive and, therefore, play a significant role in how we develop our racial selfunderstanding.
Newly presented racial development models emphasize the fact that variation exists among
mixed-race people. These models outline how biracial identities emerge from a variety of
environmental factors. This emphasis asserts that healthy racial identity for mixed-race people is
less about which racial label a person chooses and more about the pathway individuals traveled to
reach their identity.
In many ways, identity is the product of numerous split second unconscious agreements between
individuals and others about how they are perceived and therefore how they will be defined.
Throughout this process, validation and rejection are powerful mediating factors.
It is important for parents, caregivers, extended family members and educators to evaluate the
degree to which acceptance and/or denial of one’s mixed-race parentage shapes the pathway an
individual has traveled to arrive at a particular racial self-understanding (healthy or unhealthy).
Health is not defined by the racial label a person adopts, but rather it is a matter of the pathways
one travels to arrive at that label.
“Acceptance” is a state of being that involves cognitive as well as emotional dimensions.
Pathways that reflect acceptance or an evolving state of acceptance are healthy, while those that
are steeped in denial are unhealthy.
In their book, Raising Biracial Children, authors Laszloffy and Rockquemore provide case studies
in order to demonstrate how mixed-race individuals may arrive at the same racial identity by very
different pathways. Here are some Examples:
Singular Identities
Black/white mixed-race people who understand their racial identity in alliance with only one of
their birth parents more often identity as exclusively black than exclusively white.
Celebrities with one black/one white parent who self identify as black: Halle Berry, Lenny
Kravitz, Rain Pryor, Giancarlo Esposito and Jasmine Guy.
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Blended Identities:
Multi-racial individuals who develop and identity that is more blended conceptualize their racial
identity as “biracial” or “mixed.” This group often encounters rejection from others. Celebrities
with a blended identity: Mariah Carey, Paula Abdul and Derek Jeter.
A blended identity may also emerge among those who suffer form underlying sense of identity
confusion. While the term “biracial” implies a blending and balancing of two races, in some
instances individuals adopt this label as a reaction to an underlying lack of resolution about who
they are and how to integrate their multiple ancestries.
It is important to understand the difference between an identity and a behavior when discussing
race and the fact that identity can change or shift at any given time as the context of the situation
changes.
Transcendent Identities:
Refusing to have any racial identity whatsoever can be a sign of either a healthy or unhealthy
identity development. Instead of understanding oneself as black, white or biracial, one describes
self as a thinker, musician, kindhearted individual etc. Transcendent individuals don’t let race, as
a means of self-definition, interfere with others seeing their authentic self.
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Strategy Number IV
Become Your Child’s Expert on Race
Racism in America: What Parents Need to Know
In order for you to be your child’s expert on race you must educate yourself on racism in
America. To become your child’s expert means that your child will have an understanding of
what it means to have someone in their corner at all times during all seasons and during all stages
of their racial identity development. Your child will associate an open, comfortable environment
with you: you taking the time to educate them with patience, no judgment and no fear.
It is a conversation that we must have. We must discuss the historical roots of racism, how it
persists in contemporary America and how it affects the way mixed-race people are categorized,
understood and treated by others. Only by understanding how race and racism manifest in the
broader social context that we can fully grasp the difficulty that children face in resolving their
mixed-race status.
Here we will reconcile what we want to believe about our society with what actually exists.
By definition, racism refers to any attitude, belief, behavior, or institutional arrangement that
favors one racial group over another. It can manifest itself in different ways, specifically: 1)
ideological racism 2) institutional racism 3) individual racism.
“Because the ideology of white supremacy resides at the heart of most American institutions, it is
virtually impossible to live in the United States and be immune to the numerous ways that notions
of white supremacy are reflected in the attitudes and practices that shape our society.”
The three most common manifestations of racism are ideological racism, institutional racism, and
individual racism.
Ideological racism- refers to the beliefs in the biological, intellectual, and/or cultural
superiority/inferiority of different racial groups. This is clearly seen in the creation of slavery
which was built on the premise of white supremacy. The Declaration of Independence’s
foundation of “all men are created equal” really meant “all landowning white men” since blacks
were not considered men and women were not considered at all.
Segregation, while a different social system than slavery, continued the same set of racist beliefs
and these beliefs discouraged dismantling of the system.
Ideological racism hasn’t been erased; it has changed along with historical circumstances. For
instance, white supremacy now exists as cultural superiority.
Institutional racism- refers to the state, education system, economic system, media and criminal
justice system that each has played a role in the creation and perpetuation of the racial inequalities
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that exists today. It refers to the practices, policies, procedures, and culture of social institutions
that deprive racially identified groups from equal access, opportunities, and treatment.
Individual racism- refers to the belief that a person or group is “less than” on the basis of race,
producing negative emotions toward a person or group. This type of racism includes intentional
or unintentional acts, omissions and behaviors. Intentional includes the overt behaviors where the
objective is clearly to deny someone access to an opportunity or resource or to hurt or defile
someone on the basis of race. Unintentional describes the person committing the discriminatory
act as unaware of the ways in which racist ideology is organizing his/her behavior.
Examples:
• Using racially derogatory language
• Locking car doors when driving through a predominantly black neighborhood
• Hiring of blacks for low-level position despite qualifications
• Low teacher expectations of black students
• Guidance counselors and teachers discouraging black students from taking classes and
establishing career goals that would prepare them for higher paying jobs.
• Real estate agents showing black clients fewer homes and steering them to predominantly
black neighborhoods
• Bankers denying mortgages to blacks more often than whites of similar income levels
and charging higher interest rates when loans are granted
• White families assuming property values will decrease when blacks move in
• Customer service representatives displaying a decreased demeanor when assisting black
customers
• Airline ticket agents assuming blacks are seated in economy class
• Store security agents tracking black customers more frequently than whites
• Parents discouraging their children from forming friendships with children of color
• Parents becoming angry when they learn their child is dating someone of another race
When filling out institutional forms or needing to identify themselves to someone, the one-drop
rule dictates that the only available identity is black. Many thought this norm had been officially
dismantled when the 2000 Census directed citizens to mark “all that apply” for their racial
category. On the surface it seemed that mixed-race people could now check both black and white.
However, behind the scenes, the data is pulled back into the traditional categories so that the
person who checked off both black and white becomes solely “black.”
The challenge for parents is to recognize our own racism and understand the ways in which it
may shape our own attitudes and behaviors.
When you become your child’s expert on race, as parents, caregivers, extended family members
and educators you acknowledge that, “From the womb to the tomb, race matters, especially when
one is faced with the responsibility of raising a child of color.”
Because it is often difficult for white parents to recognize the influence of race in their lives, the
extent of their racial awareness is limited to the few occasions when they may find themselves in
a situation where they are the racial minority.
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Two unique factors exist today that complicate racial socialization for mixed-race children
in our world:
1. The politics in our society are such that mixed-race people exist along the margins where
there is no clear community of mixed-race people or a clearly developed ideology of the
mixed-race experience that can be used to guide them.
2. Unlike most single-race children, mixed-race children have no parent with whom they
can directly identify with as a mixed-race person, essentially learning about
3. Race from one or more adults who have not directly experienced their racial reality.
Factors that shape how parents approach racial socialization include the following:
1. Individual parental factors- how parents of mixed-race children define and relate to their
own racial identity. This also includes the types and frequency the parents have had with
both white and black people (quality and frequency) and the way parents define
themselves racially and understand their own identity.
2. Primary level of racial development- an unconscious identification with whiteness and
unquestioned acceptance of stereotypes about racial minorities
3. Conflict stage- in this stage, an awareness of raciality grows and they are challenged to
consider their whiteness. Do we conform or challenge ideals?
4. Redefinition of whiteness-taking responsibility for maintaining racism while at the same
time, identifying with a white identity that is nonracist.
5. The quality of the relationships between parents- conflict and tension can indirectly affect
children’s racial socialization as children will assume that they have to take sides. The
challenge the children face is that in supporting one parent, they may feel disloyal to the
other.
6. How parents respond to their children’s physical appearance- whether directly or
indirectly, the way parents respond to their children’s physical characteristics sends a
message about race.
The “invisibility of whiteness” can easily lead white parents to assume that racial issues do not
concern them. For parents of mixed-race children, it is important to move beyond the primary
level of racial development.
Healthy socialization involves talking honestly and openly directly with children about how race
shapes every day life. Children should also feel free to ask questions, be curious, and share their
observations with fear, judgment or punishment. This may require some parents to deepen their
understanding and education on race relations.
“Talking race” is an art that requires a specific vocabulary and grammar. The more one talks
about race and the greater the diversity of people with whom one communicates, the greater the
fluency they will develop.
The uniqueness of the mixed-race child’s experience is significant. Mixed-race children have an
even more marginalized experience because they do not “fit” into totalizing categories of either
whiteness or blackness, which places them at risk of being rejected by both groups, and of never
feeling as if they truly belong anywhere.
Common negative messages about blackness include: blackmail, black market, “black sheep of
the family”, and a person’s dark side. The overvaluation of whiteness and the devaluation of
blackness are phenomena that parents of mixed-race children must actively work to balance.
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Because mixed-race children are both white and black, but not entirely white or black, they are at
risk for being targeted by both whites and blacks. Children need to be taught that if they are
subjected to indignities, it tends to say more about the offender than it does about them.
Children need to be taught how to assess situations quickly and when to pull back or talk back.
• Pulling back- refers to being able to recognize when to “pick your battles”. For example,
a child in school who feels their teacher is being insensitive should pull back, inform their
parents and let the parents handle the situation.
• Talking back- involves the capacity to call attention to racism and hold offenders
accountable.
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Strategy V
Resources
Books and Articles for Adults and Professionals Working
with Interracial families and Mixed-Race Children:
1.
2.
3.
M.P.P. Root, ed., “The Multiracial Experience.” Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1996.
M.P.P. Root, ed., “Racially Mixed People in America.” Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1992
S. Van Collies, “How Does a White Man Raise a Black Son?” Essence Magazine 30, no.1 (1999):
70.
4. Kaeser, Gigi, and Peggy Gillespie. “Of Many Colors: Portraits of Multiracial Families.” Amherst:
University of Massachusetts Press, 1997.
5. Bender, D., and B. Leone, eds. “Interracial America: Opposing Viewpoints.” San Diego, CA:
Greenhouse, Press 1996.
6. Wardle, Francis. “Children of Mixed Parentage: How can Professionals Respond?” Children
Today. July-August 1989 v18 n4 p10(4)
7. Kerry Ann Rockquemore and Tracey Laszloffy. “Raising Biracial Children.” Oxford, UK:
AltaMira Press 2005
8. Russell, Wilson, and Hall. “The Color Complex: The Politics of Skin Color Among African
Americans.” First Anchor Books 1992
9. Tukufu Zuberi. “Thicker than Blood: How Racial Statistics Lie.” The Regents of the University of
Minnesota 2001
10. James McBride. “The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother.” Berkley
Publishing Group1996
11. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva. “Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of
Racial Inequality in the United States.” Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2003
12. Loretta I. Winters and Herman L. DeBose. “New Faces in a Changing America.” Sage
Publications, Inc. 2003
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6.
Children’s Books
Kendal, B., and C. Halebian. “Trevor’s Story: Growing up Biracial” Minneapolis: Lerner
Publications. 1997.
Mandelbaum, P. “You Be Me, I’ll Be You.” New York: Kane/Miller. 1993.
Magazines
Interface Magazine, P.O. Box 17479, Beverly Hills, CA 90209
Mavin Magazine, 1102 8th Avenue, Suite 407, Seattle, WA 98101
Organizations
Association of Multiethnic Americans, P.O. Box 341304 Los Angeles, CA 90034-1304
www.ameasite.org
Center for the Study of Biracial Children, 2300 S. Krameria Street, Denver, CO 90222
www.csbc.cncfamily.com
Project Race, 2910 Kerry Forest Parkway, D4-129 Tallahassee, FL 32309 www.projectrace.com
Mavin Foundation 600 First Avenue, Suite 600 Seattle, WA 98104 www.mavinfoundation.org
A Place for Us P.O. Box 357 Gardena, CA 90248 www.aplaceforusnational.com/home.html
Swirl 16 West 32nd Street, Suite 10A New York, NY 10001 www.swirlinc.org
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Recommended Readings
Adams, Romanzo C. Interracial Marriage in Hawaii. Republished 1969 by AMS Press, New York
(orig. publ. 1937).
Andrews, Lori. Black Power, White Blood: The Life and Times of Johnny Spain. Published 1996
by Pantheon Books, New York.
Barron, Milton. The Blending American: Patterns of Intermarriage. Published 1972 by Quadrangle
Books, Chicago.
Berzon, J.R. Neither Black nor White: The Mulatto Character in American Fiction. Published
1978 by New York University Press, New York.
Chiong, Jane Ayers. Racial Categorization of Multiracial Children in Schools. Published 1998 by
Bergin & Garvey, Westport CT & London.
Countryman, Edward. Americans. A Collision of Histories. Published 1997 by Hill and Wang.
Crohn, Joel. Mixed Matches. How to Create Successful Interracial, Interethnic, and Interfaith
Relationships. Published 1995 by Fawcett Columbine-Ballantine Books, New York.
Dalmadge, Heather. Tripping on the Color Line : Blackwhite Multiracial Families in a Racially
Divided World Published 2000 by Rutgers University Press.
Daniel, G. Reginald More Than Black? Multiracial Identity and the New Racial Order , Published
2001 by Temple Univ Press
Davis, F. James. Who is Black: One Nation’s Definition. Published 1991 by Pennsylvania State
University Press.
Day, Beth. Sexual Life Between Blacks and Whites: The Roots of Racism. Published 1972 by
World Publishing, Times Mirror, New York.
Degler, Carl N. Neither Black Nor White: Slavery and Race Relations in Brazil and the US.
Published 1971 by MacMillan Publishing Co., New York.
Funderburg, Lise. Black, White, Other: Biracial Americans Talk about Race and Identity
Published 1995 by Hearst Communications, Inc.
Gay, Kathlyn. The Rainbow Effect: Interracial Families. Published 1987 by Franklin Watts, New
York.
Gibbs, Jewelle & Huang, L.N. Children of Color: Psychological Interventions With Minority
Youth (chapter on interracial adolescents). Published 1989 by Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Goldstein, Josh (Office of Population Research, Princeton University) The multiple-race
population of the United States: Issues and estimates Recent paper which appeared in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Japanese American Citizens League (JACL).
Special issue on “Interracial Families.” Pacific Citizen, vol.101, no.25, December 20-27, 1985.
Johnston, James Hugo. Miscegenation in the Ante-Bellum South. Republished 1972 by AMS
Press, New York (orig. publ. 1939).
McCord, David & Cleveland, William. Black and Red: The Historical Meeting of Africans and
Native Americans. Published 1990, Dreamkeeper Press, Inc., Atlanta.
McFee, Malcolm. “The 150% Man: A Product of Blackfoot Acculturation.” American
Anthropologist, vol. 70, pp. 1096-1107, 1968.
MacLachlan, Colin M. & Rodríguez O, Jaime E. The Forging of the Cosmic Race: A
Reinterpretation of Colonial Mexico. Published 1981 by the University of California Press,
Berkeley & Los Angeles.
Mathabane, Mark & Gail. Love in Black and White: The Triumph of Love over Prejudice and
Taboo. Published 1992 by Harper Collins, New York.
Morner, Magnus. Race Mixture in the History of Latin America. Published 1967 by Little Brown,
Boston.
Murgia, Edward. Chicano Intermarriage. Published 1982 by Trinity University Press, Texas.
Owen, Lyla & Murphy, Owen. The Creoles of New Orleans: People of Color. Published 1987 by
First Quarter Publishing Company, New Orleans.
Porterfield, Ernest. Black and White Mixed Marriages. Published 1978 by Nelson Hall Publishers,
Chicago.
Root, Maria P. P. Love’s Revolution: Interracial Marriage, Published 2001 by Temple University
Press
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Raising Biracial Children?
27. Root, Maria, ed. The Multiracial Experience, publ.1996 by Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks
CA. (order@sagepub.com)
28. Root, Maria ed. Racially Mixed People in America, publ.1992 by Sage Publications, Thousand
Oaks CA.
29. Root, Maria. Filipino Americans: Identity and Transformation (includes discussion of Filipino
mixed heritage). Published 1997 by Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks CA.
30. Simon, Rita. Adoption, Race & Identity: From Infancy Through Adolescence. Published 1992 by
Praeger Publishers (The Greenwood Group), Westport Connecticut.
31. Simon, Rita. Adoption Across Borders : Serving the Children in Transracial and Intercountry
Adoptions. Published 2000 by Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland.
32. Spickard, Paul. Mixed Blood: Intermarriage and Ethnic Identity in Twentieth-Century America.
Published 1989 by the University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.
33. Sung, Betty Lee. Chinese American Intermarriage. Published 1989 by the Center for Migration
Studies, New York.
34. Vasconcelos, José. La Raza Cósmica. First published in Mexico, 1925, English translation by
Didier T. Jaén published 1979 by Centro de Publicaciones, California State University, Los
Angeles.
35. Walker, Rebecca. Black, White, and Jewish : Autobiography of a Shifting Self. Published
December, 2000 by Riverhead Books
36. White, Steve & Ruth. Free Indeed: the Autobiography of an Interracial Couple. Published 1989 by
A Place For Us Ministry, Gardena.
37. Williams-Leon, Teresa (Editor), Nakashima, Cynthia L.(Editor), Omi, Michael (Foreword) The
Sum of Our Parts: Mixed-Heritage Asian Americans (Asian American History and Culture),
Published 2001 by Temple Univ Press
38. Williamson, J. New People: Miscegenation and Mulattoes in the United States. Published 1980 by
New York University Press, New York and 1995 Louisiana State Univ Press
39. Zack, Naomi. American Mixed Race: The Culture of Microdiversity. Published 1995 by Rowman
and Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland.
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RACE
Banton, Michael P.. Ethnic and Racial Consciousness. Published 1997 by Addison-Wesley Pub
Co.
Barzun, Jaques. Race, A Study in Superstition. Published 1965 by Harper and Row, New York.
Gossett, Thomas F. Race: The History of an Idea in America. Published 1965 by Schocken Press,
New York, 2nd edition (1997) Oxford University Press, London & New York
Graves, Joseph L. Jr The Emperor’s New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium.
Published 2001 by Rutgers University Press.
King, James C. The Biology of Race. Published 1981 by the University of California Press,
Berkeley, Los Angeles & London.
Montagu, Ashley. Man’s Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race. Fifth edition published
1974 by Oxford University Press, London & New York.
Poliakov, Leon. The Aryan Myth: A History of Racist and Nationalist Ideas in Europe. Published
1974 by New American Library, New York.
Stepan, Nancy. The Idea of Race in Science. Published 1982 by Archon Books, Hamden,
Connecticut.
UNESCO. The Race Concept. Reprinted 1970 by Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut.
GENERAL REFERENCE
Allen, James Paul & Turner, Eugene James. We The People: An Atlas of America’s Ethnic
Diversity. Published 1988 by Macmillan Publishing, New York.
Thernstrom, Stephen ed. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Published 1980 by
the Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Tiffany Rae Reid
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Raising Biracial Children?
1.
2.
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4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
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3.
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7.
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24.
EARLY CHILDHOOD
Adoff, Arnold. Black is Brown is Tan. Ages 4-8. Published 1973 by Harper and Row, New York.
Garland, Sarah. Billy and Belle. Ages 4-8. Published 1992 by Viking Penguin, New York,
paperback 1999 by Penguin UK, London.
Hoffman, Mary, and Cornelius Van Wright (Illustrator) & Ying-Hwa Hu (Illustrator). An Angel
Just Like Me. Ages 3+. Published 1997 by Dial Books for Young Readers.
Lionni, Leo. Little Blue and Little Yellow : A Story for Pippo and Other Children. Ages 4-8.
Published 1959 by Obolensky Press, New York; paperback 1995 by Mulberry Books.
Mandelbaum, Pili. You Be Me, I’ll Be You. Ages 4-8. Published 1990 by Kane-Miller Publishers,
New York; paperback 1993.
Nye, Loyal. What Color Am I? Published 1977 by Abingdon Press, Nashville.
Williams, Garth. The Rabbits’ Wedding. Ages 4-8. Published 1958 by Harper & Row Publishers,
New York; 1982 by HarperCollins Juvenile Books.
Williams, Vera. More More More Said the Baby. Ages Baby-Preschool. Published 1990 by
Greenwillow Books, New York; Board edition 1997 by Tupelo Books.
SCHOOL AGE
Adoff, Arnold. All Colors of the Race. Published 1982 by Lathrop, Lee & Shepard, New York.
Adoff, Arnold. Hard to be Six. Published 1991 by Lathrop, Lee & Shepard, New York.
Blume, Judy. Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret. Ages 9-12. Published 1970 by Dell
Publishing, New York; Reissue 1991 by Laurel Leaf.
Borton de Treviño, Elizabeth. Juan de Pareja. Ages 9-12. Published 1965 by Collins Publishers,
Toronto; Reprint edition 1984 Farrar Straus & Giroux.
Cohen, Robert Carl. The Color of Man. Published 1973 by the California State Dept. of
Education, Sacramento.
Danziger, Paula. It’s An Aardvark-Eat-Turtle World. Ages 9-12. Published 1985 by Delacorte
Press, New York; Reisssue edition 2000 by Puffin.
Dixon, Page. Promises To Keep. Published 1974 by Atheneum, New York.
Friedman, Ina. How My Parents Learned To Eat. Ages 4-8. Published 1984 by Houghton Mifflin,
Boston.
Gridley, Marion. Maria Tallchief. Published 1973 by Dillon Press, Minneapolis
Hoffman, Mary & Northway, Jennifer. Nancy No-Size. Published 1987 by Oxford University
Press, New York.
Irwin, Hadley. Kim/Kimi. Ages 9-12. Published 1988 by Viking Press, New York.
Jones, Adrienne. So, Nothing is Forever. Published 1974 by Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
Lacapa, Michael and Kathleen. Less Than Half, More Than Whole. Ages 4-8. Published 1995 by
Northland.
Lampman, Evelyn. Half-Breed. Published 1967 by Doubleday & Company, New York.
Little, Jean. Kate. Published 1971 by Harper & Row, New York.
Miles, Betty. All It Takes Is Practice. Published 1976 by Alfred A. Knopf.
Nichols, Joan. All But the Right Folks. Published 1985 by Maryland Stemmer House, Owings
Mill.
Porte, Barbara Ann. I Only Made Up the Roses. Published 1987 by Greenwillow, New York.
Rosenberg, Maxine. Living In Two Worlds. Published 1986 by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, New
York.
Screen, Robert. With My Face to the Rising Sun. Published 1977 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,
New York.
Tallchief, Maria & Rosemary Wells. Tallchief: America’s Prima Ballerina.Ages 9-12. Published
1999 by Viking Press, New York.
Tate, Eleanora. Just An Overnight Guest. Ages 9-12. Published 1989 by Dial Press, New York;
Reprint edition 1997 by Just Us Books.
Terris, Susan. Whirling Rainbows. Published 1974 by Doubleday & Co., New York.
Webber, Robert. The Train. Published 1972 by Pantheon, New York.
Tiffany Rae Reid
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Raising Biracial Children?
25. Bess, Clayton. Big Man and the Burnout. Published 1985 by Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
26. Bode, Janet. Different Worlds: Interracial & Cross-Cultural Dating. Published 1989 by Franklin
Watts, New York.
27. Brown, Rosellen. Half a Heart. Published May 2000 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
28. Garland, Sherry. Song of the Buffalo Boy. Published 1992 by Harcourt Brace & Jovanovich, New
York; Reissue edition 1994 by Gary Dean Gullickson.
29. Hamilton, Virginia. Arilla Sun Down. Young Adult. Published 1976 by Dell Publishing, New
York.
30. Hurmence, Belinda. Tancy. Published 1984 by Clarion Books, New York.
31. Jackson, Helen Hunt. Ramona. Published 1939 by Little Brown Co., Boston; Reissue edition 1984
Avon.
32. Jones, Toeckey. Skindeep. Published 1986 by Harper & Row, New York.
33. Lipsyte, Robert. The Brave. Published 1991 by Harper Collins, New York; Reprint edition 1993
HarperTrophy.
34. Meyer, Carolyn. Denny’s Tapes. Published 1987 by M.K. McElderry Books, New York.
35. Pullman, Phillip. The Broken Bridge. Young Adult. Published 1992 by Alfred Knopf, New York;
Reprint edition 1994 Random House Childrens Pub.
36. Roy, Jacqueline. Soul Daddy. Published 1992 by Harcourt Brace & Jovanovich, New York.
37. Rushing, Jane Gilmore. Mary Dove. Published 1974 by Doubleday & Co. New York.
38. Taylor, Mildred. Let the Circle Be Unbroken. Young Adult. Published 1981 by The Dial Press,
New York; Reprint edition 1991 Puffin.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
TEENS
Bess, Clayton. Big Man and the Burnout. Published 1985 by Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
Bode, Janet. Different Worlds: Interracial & Cross-Cultural Dating. Published 1989 by Franklin
Watts, New York.
Brown, Rosellen. Half a Heart. Published May 2000 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Garland, Sherry. Song of the Buffalo Boy. Published 1992 by Harcourt Brace & Jovanovich, New
York; Reissue edition 1994 by Gary Dean Gullickson.
Hamilton, Virginia. Arilla Sun Down. Young Adult. Published 1976 by Dell Publishing, New
York.
Hurmence, Belinda. Tancy. Published 1984 by Clarion Books, New York.
Jackson, Helen Hunt. Ramona. Published 1939 by Little Brown Co., Boston; Reissue edition 1984
Avon.
Jones, Toeckey. Skindeep. Published 1986 by Harper & Row, New York.
Lipsyte, Robert. The Brave. Published 1991 by Harper Collins, New York; Reprint edition 1993
HarperTrophy.
Meyer, Carolyn. Denny’s Tapes. Published 1987 by M.K. McElderry Books, New York.
Pullman, Phillip. The Broken Bridge. Young Adult. Published 1992 by Alfred Knopf, New York;
Reprint edition 1994 Random House Childrens Pub.
Roy, Jacqueline. Soul Daddy. Published 1992 by Harcourt Brace & Jovanovich, New York.
Rushing, Jane Gilmore. Mary Dove. Published 1974 by Doubleday & Co. New York.
Taylor, Mildred. Let the Circle Be Unbroken. Young Adult. Published 1981 by The Dial Press,
New York; Reprint edition 1991 Puffin.
Tiffany Rae Reid
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Raising Biracial Children?
About the Author
Tiffany Rae Reid is a native of Northeastern Ohio. She attended college in Pennsylvania and has
worked and lived in New York City and Southern New Jersey. Tiffany Rae is a life coach and
works with men, women and young adults in various stages of transition. Tiffany mentors young
women and works with individuals and families as they seek to strengthen their
relationships, communicate more effectively and tap into their true purpose.
Life Coaching with Tiffany Rae is a brand of coaching that seeks to erase colorblindness from
every family raising biracial children. Tiffany Rae believes that through education and cross
cultural training, families raising biracial, multiracial and multiethnic children can receive the
support, encouragement and resources needed to establish real dialogue. Through mentoring we
can create a sense of self identity, self respect, cultural awareness and responsibility.
Interactive individual and group sessions create an opportunity to engage each family member
and provides the language and framework needed to celebrate a unique family dynamic.
Life Coaching with Tiffany Rae seeks to combine Tiffany Rae’s life experience, multiracial
heritage and passion for helping people with her volunteering, mentoring and experience helping
people deal with change and transformation in their lives and the lives of their loved ones. With
her involvement working with juvenile offenders in the court system, volunteering as a Rape
Advocate and performing community outreach with a local Hospice organization, Tiffany Rae
has years of experience mentoring and guiding many people in need of change and
undergoing transition.
Tiffany Rae Reid
19
Raising Biracial Children?
Tiffany Rae is a dynamic speaker and delivers a powerful message of personal empowerment and
self identification. She has a unique ability to teach people how to identify and celebrate all that
makes them remarkable, brilliant and creative. Groups from many walks of life: old, young, rich
and poor have been motivated by her inspiring presentations and workshops. Tiffany has been
honored for her passion and drive.
Tiffany Rae is currently the President of the Board of Directors of RAFHA, Inc. & The Center for
Empowering Young Women, a non-profit organization that was created to provide holistic
services to adolescent females in need of self, social and educational development. Tiffany Rae
has found a way to celebrate her multicultural background by embracing the characteristics that
once isolated her from her family and peers while growing up. Tiffany brings these life
lessons alive and presents much, much more in workshops and group sessions to small
businesses, community events and to families raising biracial, multiracial and
multiethnic children.
Coaching sessions help to make individuals feel comfortable again with all of the creativity and
uniqueness that resides within but can’t seem to come out due to stereotypes, prejudices,
learned obstacles, drains and limitations. Sessions focus on identifying the fear and limiting
beliefs that exist in our situations and relationships and outlining the steps to overcome a lack
mentality and a lack of action. Whether it’s discussing diversity, cultural awareness, helping to
establish roles and identities or setting a course toward a specific vision or goal, Tiffany Rae
implements interactive action steps that lead to individuals living purpose driven lives and
tapping into the resources and power of their inner strength.
If you would like to have Tiffany Rae speak to your group or organization, please email:
tiffanyraecoaching@gmail.com or call 201-450-3210.
Tiffany Rae Reid