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The dictionary's definition of race

Each of the major groupings into which humankind is considered (in various theories or contexts) to be divided on the basis of physical characteristics or shared ancestry.

The notion of race is a social construct designed to divide people into groups ranked as superior and inferior. The scientific consensus is that race, in this sense, has no biological basis – we are all one race, the human race. Racial identity , however, is very real. And, in a racialized society like the United States, everyone is assigned a racial identity whether they are aware of it or not.

Race as Social Construction

​The dictionary’s definition of race is incomplete and misses the complexity of impact on lived experiences. It is important to acknowledge race is a social fabrication, created to classify people on the arbitrary basis of skin color and other physical features. Although race has no genetic or scientific basis, the concept of race is important and consequential. Societies use race to establish and justify systems of power, privilege, disenfranchisement, and oppression.

American Anthropological Association  states that "the 'racial' worldview was invented to assign some groups to perpetual low status, while others were permitted access to privilege, power, and wealth. The tragedy in the United States has been that the policies and practices stemming from this worldview succeeded all too well in constructing unequal populations among Europeans, Native Americans, and peoples of African descent." To understand more about race as a social construct in the United States, read the AAPA  statement on race and racism .

Learn more about race as it relates to human genetics In the Teaching Tolerance report, “Race Does Not Equal DNA” 

What is Racial identity?

• Racial identity is externally imposed: “ How do others perceive me? ”
• Racial identity is also internally constructed: “ How do I identify myself? ”

Understanding how our identities and experiences have been shaped by race is vital. We are all awarded certain privileges and or disadvantages because of our race whether or not we are conscious of it.

Race matters. Race matters … because of persistent racial inequality in society - inequality that cannot be ignored. Justice Sonya Sotomayor United States Supreme Court

Developmental models of racial identity

Many sociologists and psychologists have identified that there are similar patterns every individual goes through when recognizing their racial identity. While these patterns help us understand the link between race and identity, creating one’s racial identity is a fluid and nonlinear process that varies for every person and group.

Think of these categories of Racial Identity Development [PDF] as stations along a journey of the continual evolution of your racial identity. Your personal experiences, family, community, workplaces, the aging process, and political and social events – all play a role in understanding our own racial identity. During this process, people move between a desire to "fit in" to dominant norms, to a questioning of one's own identity and that of others. It includes feelings of confusion and often introspection, as well as moments of celebration of self and others. You may begin at any point on this chart and move in any direction – sometimes on the same day! Recognizing the station you are in helps you understand who you are.

What is ideology?

Ideology is a system of ideas, ideals, and manner of thinking that form the basis for decision making, often regarding economic or political theory and policy

No One is Colorblind to Race

The concept of race is intimately connected to our lives and has serious implications. It operates in real and definitive ways that confer benefits and privileges to some and withholds them from others.  Ignoring race means ignoring the establishment of racial hierarchies in society and the injustices these hierarchies have created and continue to reinforce.

• READ: “ Children Are Not Colorblind: How Young Children Learn Race ,” by Erin N. Winkler, Ph.D.

Understand More About the Dangers of Ignoring Race

Read this article, “ When you say you 'don't see race,' you’re ignoring racism, not helping to solve it. ”

Reflection:

• What are some experiences or identities that are central to who you are? How do you feel when they are ignored or “not seen”?

• The author in this article points out how people often use nonvisual cues to determine race. What does this reveal to us about the validity of pretending not to see race?

Either America will destroy ignorance, or ignorance will destroy the United States W.E.B. DuBois

RACISM = Racial Prejudice (Unfounded Beliefs + Irrational Fear) + Institutional Power 

Racism, like smog, swirls around us and permeates American society. It can be intentional, clear and direct or it can be expressed in more subtle ways that the perpetrator might not even be aware of.

Racism is a system of advantage based on race that involves systems and institutions, not just individual mindsets and actions. The critical variable in racism is the impact (outcomes) not the intent and operates at multiple levels including individual racism, interpersonal racism, institutional racism, and structural racism. 

• Interpersonal racism ​ occurs between individuals and includes public expressions of racism, often involving slurs, biases, hateful words or actions, or exclusion.

Source: Adapted from Terry Keleher, Applied Research Center, and Racial Equity Tools by OneTILT

Breaking the Silence Silence on issues of race hurts everyone. Reluctance to directly address the impact of race can result in a lack of connection between people, a loss of our society’s potential and progress, and an escalation of fear and violence. Silence around other issues of identity can also have the same negative impact on society. Silence on race keeps us all from understanding and learning. We can break the silence by being proactive - by learning, reflecting and having courageous conversations with ourselves and others.

VIDEO: Watch below as Franchesca Ramsey discusses racism on MTV’s Decoded (warning: adult language):

Take a moment to reflect

Let's Think

• How are you thinking about your own racialized identity after learning more about race?

• Ask a friend who has a different racial identity than yours to discuss how cultivating a positive sense of racial identity about yourself and others can interrupt racism at every level (personally, socially, and institutionally)?

For concerned citizens:

• Try this exercise to recognize the everyday opportunities you may have that can promote racial equity: Exercise on Choice Points .
• Activity: Try this group activity for talking about race effectively

For Families and Educators: Here are some ways to address race and racism in your classroom:

• Teaching young children about race: a guide for families and teachers
• Tipsfor talking to children about race

Why Us, Why Now?

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Our Favorite Essays by Black Writers About Race and Identity

Books & Culture

A personal and critical lens to blackness in america from our archives.

It’s fitting that two of the first three essays in this roundup are centered on examining the Black American experience as one of horror. In a year when radical right-wing activists are truly leaning in, we’ve already seen record numbers of anti-LGBTQ legislation, the very real possibility of the end of Roe v. Wade, and more fervent redlining measures to keep Black people (and other marginalized communities) from voting. Gun violence is at an all time high, in particular mass shootings.

Since the success of Jordan Peele’s runaway hit film Get Out , there has been a steady rise in films depicting the Black American experience for the fraught, nuanced, dangerous life that it can be. This narrative isn’t entirely new, but this is the first time these films have gained critical acclaim and commercial attention. The reason is simple. Whatever the cause—social media, an increasingly diverse population—America can’t run from itself anymore. Our entertainment is finally asking the question that Black people have been asking for generations: In America, who is the real boogeyman?

Naturally, the discourse and critical analyses must follow suit. But it doesn’t stop there: the essays on this list span far and wide when it comes to subject matter, critical lens, and personal narrative. There are essays about Black friendship, the radical nature of Black people taking rest, and the affirmation of Black women writing for themselves, telling their own stories. Icons like Michelle Obama, Toni Morrison, and Gayle Jones get a deep dive, and we learn that we should always have been listening to Octavia Butler. This Juneteenth, I hope you’re taking a moment to reflect, on America’s troubled legacy, and to celebrate the ways that Black people continue to thrive.

Modern Horror Is the Perfect Genre for Capturing the Black Experience

Cree Myles writes about the contemporary Black creators rewriting the horror genre and growing the canon:

“Racism is a horror and should be explored as such. White folks have made it clear that they don’t think that’s true. Someone else needs to tell the story.”

Modern Narratives of Black Love and Friendship Are Centering Iconic Trios

Darise Jeanbaptiste writes about how Insecure and Nobody’s Magic illustrate the intricacy of evolving Black relationships:

“The power of the triptych is that it offers three experiences in addition to the fourth, which emerges when all three are viewed or read together.”

I Was Surrounded by “Final Girls” in School, Knowing I’d Never Be One

Whitney Washington writes that the erasure of Black women in slasher films has larger implications about race in America:

“Long before the realities of American life, it was slasher movies that taught me how invisible, ignored, and ultimately expendable Black women are. There was no list of rules long enough to keep me safe from the insidiousness of white supremacy… More than anything, slasher movies showed me that my role was to always be a supporting character, risking my life to be the voice of reason ensuring that the white girl makes it to the finish line.”

“Palmares” Is An Example of What Grows When Black Women Choose Silence

Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies , writes that Gayl Jones’ decades-long absence from public life illuminates the power of restorative quiet:

“These women’s silences should not be interpreted as a lack of understanding or awareness, but rather as an abundance of both, most especially the knowledge of what to keep close to the vest, and the implications for failing to do so. They know better than to explain themselves, their powers and their origins, their beliefs and reasons, their magic. These women are silent not because they don’t know anything. They are silent because they know better.”

Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” Showed Me How Race and Gender Are Intertwined

For the 50th anniversary of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye , Koritha Mitchell writes how the novel taught her that being a Black woman is more than just Blackness or womanhood:

“I didn’t have the gift of Kimberlé Crenshaw’s concept of ‘intersectionality,’ but The Bluest Eye revealed how, in my presence, racism and sexism would always collide to produce negative experiences that others could dodge. It was not simply being Black or being dark-skinned that mattered; it was being those things while also being female.”

The Delicate Balancing Act of Black Women’s Memoir

Koritha Mitchell writes about how Michelle Obama’s Becoming illustrates larger tensions for Black women writing about themselves:

“In other words, when Black women remain enigmas while seeming to share so much, they create proxies at a distance from their psychic and spiritual realities because they are so rarely safe in public. Despite the release of her memoir, audiences will never be privy to who Michelle Obama actually knows herself to be, and that is more than appropriate.”

50 Years Later, the Demands of “The Black Manifesto” Are Still Unmet

Carla Bell writes about James Forman’s famous 1969 address, The Black Manifesto , and its contemporary resonances:

“But the Manifesto is as vital a roadmap in our marches and protests today as the day it was first delivered. We, black people in America, remain compelled by the power and purpose of The Black Manifesto, and we continue to demand our full rights as a people of this decadent society.”

You Should Have Been Listening to Octavia Butler This Whole Time

Alicia A. Wallace writes that Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower isn’t just a prescient dystopia—it’s a monument to the wisdom of Black women and girls:

Through her protagonist Lauren Olamina, Butler has been telling the world for decades that it was not going to last in its capitalist, racist, sexist, homophobic form for much longer. She showed us the way injustice would cause the earth to burn, and the importance of community building for survival and revolution. Through Parable of the Sowe r, we had a better future in our hands, but we did not listen.

The Book You Need to Fully Understand How Racism Operates in America

Darryl Robertson writes about Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning and its examination of the history of overt and covert bigotry:

“While How to Be an Antiracist is an informative and necessary read, it is his National Book Award-winning, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America that deserves extra attention. If we want to uproot the current racist system, it’s mandatory that we understand how racism was constructed. Stamped does just that.”

I Reject the Imaginary White Man Judging My Work

Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts turns to Black writers as inspiration for resisting white expectations:

“…it doesn’t only matter that I’m a Black woman telling my story. What matters is the lens through which I’m telling it. And sometimes, many times, that lens, if we’re not careful, can be tainted by the ever-present consciousness of Whiteness as the default.”

Toni Morrison Gave My Own Story Back to Me

The incomparable literary powerhouse showed Brandon Taylor how to stop letting white people dictate the shape of his narrative:

“That’s the magic of Toni Morrison. Once you read her, the world is never the same. It’s deeper, brighter, darker, more beautiful and terrible than you could ever imagine. Her work opens the world and ushers you out into it. She resurfaced the very texture and nature of my imagination and what I could conceive of as possible for writing and for art, for life.”

Art Must Engage With Black Vitality, Not Just Black Pain

Jennifer Baker writes that books like The Fire This Time give depth and nuance to a reflection of Blackness in America:

“These essays provided a deeper connection because Black pain was part of the story; Black identity, self-recognition, our own awareness brokered every page. Black pain was not the sole criterion for the anthology’s existence.”

When Black Characters Wear White Masks

Jennifer Baker writes that whiteface in literature isn’t a disavowal of Blackness, but a commentary on privilege:

“Whiteface stories interrogate the mentality that it’s better to be white while examining how societal gains as well as societal “norms” inflict this way of thinking on Black people. Being white isn’t better, but, for some of these characters, it seems a hell of a lot easier, or at least preferable to dealing with racism.”

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Racial & Ethnic Identity

Who are you the art and science of measuring identity.

As a shop that studies human behavior through surveys and other social scientific techniques, we have a good line of sight into the contradictory nature of human preferences. Here’s a look at how we categorize our survey participants in ways that enhance our understanding of how people think and behave.

Language and Traditions Are Considered Central to National Identity

Across more than 20 countries surveyed, a median of 91% say being able to speak their country’s most common language is important for being considered a true national. And 81% say sharing their country’s customs and traditions is important for true belonging.

Latinos’ Views of and Experiences With the Spanish Language

Most U.S. Latinos speak Spanish: 75% say they are able to carry on a conversation in Spanish pretty well or very well. But not all Latinos are Spanish speakers, and about half (54%) of non-Spanish-speaking Latinos have been shamed by other Latinos for not speaking Spanish.

Among Asian Americans, U.S.-born children of immigrants are most likely to have hidden part of their heritage

32% of U.S.-born Asian adults have hidden a part of their heritage, compared with 15% of immigrants.

Who is Hispanic?

The Census Bureau estimates there were roughly 63.7 million Hispanics in the U.S. as of 2022, a new high. They made up 19% of the nation’s population.

Diverse Cultures and Shared Experiences Shape Asian American Identities

Among Asian Adults living in the U.S., 52% say they most often describe themselves using ethnic labels that reflect their heritage and family roots, either alone or together with “American.” About six-in-ten (59%) say that what happens to Asians in the U.S. affects their own lives.

Documentary: Being Asian in America

In this companion documentary, Asian American participants described navigating their own identity. These participants were not part of our focus group study but were similarly sampled to tell their own stories.

Extended Interviews: Being Asian in America

The stories shared by participants in our video documentary reflect opinions, experiences and perspectives similar to those we heard in the focus groups. Watch extended interviews that were not included in our documentary but present thematically relevant stories.

In Their Own Words: The Diverse Perspectives of Being Asian in America

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What It Means To Be Asian in America

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5.3: Writing about Race, Ethnic, and Cultural Identity: A Process Approach

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To review, race, ethnic, and cultural identity theory provides us with a particular lens to use when we read and interpret works of literature. Such reading and interpreting, however, never happens after just a first reading; in fact, all critics reread works multiple times before venturing an interpretation. You can see, then, the connection between reading and writing: as Chapter 1 indicates, writers create multiple drafts before settling for a finished product. The writing process, in turn, is dependent on the multiple rereadings you have performed to gather evidence for your essay. It’s important that you integrate the reading and writing process together. As a model, use the following ten-step plan as you write using race, ethnic, and cultural identity theory:

• Carefully read the work you will analyze.
• Formulate a general question after your initial reading that identifies a problem—a tension—related to a historical or cultural issue.
• Reread the work , paying particular attention to the question you posed. Take notes, which should be focused on your central question. Write an exploratory journal entry or blog post that allows you to play with ideas.
• What does the work mean?
• How does the work demonstrate the theme you’ve identified using a new historical approach?
• “So what” is significant about the work? That is, why is it important for you to write about this work? What will readers learn from reading your interpretation? How does the theory you apply illuminate the work’s meaning?
• Reread the text to gather textual evidence for support.
• Construct an informal outline that demonstrates how you will support your interpretation.
• Write a first draft.
• Receive feedback from peers and your instructor via peer review and conferencing with your instructor (if possible).
• Revise the paper , which will include revising your original thesis statement and restructuring your paper to best support the thesis. Note: You probably will revise many times, so it is important to receive feedback at every draft stage if possible.
• Edit and proofread for correctness, clarity, and style.

We recommend that you follow this process for every paper that you write from this textbook. Of course, these steps can be modified to fit your writing process, but the plan does ensure that you will engage in a thorough reading of the text as you work through the writing process, which demands that you allow plenty of time for reading, reflecting, writing, reviewing, and revising.

Peer Reviewing

A central stage in the writing process is the feedback stage, in which you receive revision suggestions from classmates and your instructor. By receiving feedback on your paper, you will be able to make more intelligent revision decisions. Furthermore, by reading and responding to your peers’ papers, you become a more astute reader, which will help when you revise your own papers. In Chapter 10, you will find peer-review sheets for each chapter.

14 influential essays from Black writers on America's problems with race

• Business leaders are calling for people to reflect on civil rights this Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
• Black literary experts shared their top nonfiction essay and article picks on race. 
• The list includes "A Report from Occupied Territory" by James Baldwin.

For many, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a time of reflection on the life of one of the nation's most prominent civil rights leaders. It's also an important time for people who support racial justice to educate themselves on the experiences of Black people in America. 

Business leaders like TIAA CEO Thasunda Duckett Brown and others are encouraging people to reflect on King's life's work, and one way to do that is to read his essays and the work of others dedicated to the same mission he had: racial equity. 

Insider asked Black literary and historical experts to share their favorite works of journalism on race by Black authors. Here are the top pieces they recommended everyone read to better understand the quest for Black liberation in America:

An earlier version of this article was published on June 14, 2020.

"Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases" and "The Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States" by Ida B. Wells

In 1892, investigative journalist, activist, and NAACP founding member Ida B. Wells began to publish her research on lynching in a pamphlet titled "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases." Three years later, she followed up with more research and detail in "The Red Record." 

Shirley Moody-Turner, associate Professor of English and African American Studies at Penn State University recommended everyone read these two texts, saying they hold "many parallels to our own moment."  

"In these two pamphlets, Wells exposes the pervasive use of lynching and white mob violence against African American men and women. She discredits the myths used by white mobs to justify the killing of African Americans and exposes Northern and international audiences to the growing racial violence and terror perpetrated against Black people in the South in the years following the Civil War," Moody-Turner told Business Insider. 

Read  "Southern Horrors" here and "The Red Record" here >>

"On Juneteenth" by Annette Gordon-Reed

In this collection of essays, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annette Gordon-Reed combines memoir and history to help readers understand the complexities out of which Juneteenth was born. She also argues how racial and ethnic hierarchies remain in society today, said Moody-Turner. 

"Gordon-Reed invites readers to see Juneteenth as a time to grapple with the complexities of race and enslavement in the US, to re-think our origin stories about race and slavery's central role in the formation of both Texas and the US, and to consider how, as Gordon-Reed so eloquently puts it, 'echoes of the past remain, leaving their traces in the people and events of the present and future.'"

Purchase "On Juneteenth" here>>

"The Case for Reparations" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates, best-selling author and national correspondent for The Atlantic, made waves when he published his 2014 article "The Case for Reparations," in which he called for "collective introspection" on reparations for Black Americans subjected to centuries of racism and violence. 

"In his now famed essay for The Atlantic, journalist, author, and essayist, Ta-Nehisi Coates traces how slavery, segregation, and discriminatory racial policies underpin ongoing and systemic economic and racial disparities," Moody-Turner said. 

"Coates provides deep historical context punctuated by individual and collective stories that compel us to reconsider the case for reparations," she added.  

Read it here>>

"The Idea of America" by Nikole Hannah-Jones and the "1619 Project" by The New York Times

In "The Idea of America," Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones traces America's history from 1619 onward, the year slavery began in the US. She explores how the history of slavery is inseparable from the rise of America's democracy in her essay that's part of The New York Times' larger "1619 Project," which is the outlet's ongoing project created in 2019 to re-examine the impact of slavery in the US. 

"In her unflinching look at the legacy of slavery and the underside of American democracy and capitalism, Hannah-Jones asks, 'what if America understood, finally, in this 400th year, that we [Black Americans] have never been the problem but the solution,'" said Moody-Turner, who recommended readers read the whole "1619 Project" as well. 

Read "The Idea of America" here and the rest of the "1619 Project here>>

"Many Thousands Gone" by James Baldwin

In "Many Thousands Gone," James Arthur Baldwin, American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist lays out how white America is not ready to fully recognize Black people as people. It's a must read, according to Jimmy Worthy II, assistant professor of English at The University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

"Baldwin's essay reminds us that in America, the very idea of Black persons conjures an amalgamation of specters, fears, threats, anxieties, guilts, and memories that must be extinguished as part of the labor to forget histories deemed too uncomfortable to remember," Worthy said.

"Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King Jr.

On April 13 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. and other Civil Rights activists were arrested after peaceful protest in Birmingham, Alabama. In jail, King penned an open letter about how people have a moral obligation to break unjust laws rather than waiting patiently for legal change. In his essay, he expresses criticism and disappointment in white moderates and white churches, something that's not often focused on in history textbooks, Worthy said.

"King revises the perception of white racists devoted to a vehement status quo to include white moderates whose theories of inevitable racial equality and silence pertaining to racial injustice prolong discriminatory practices," Worthy said. 

"The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action" by Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde, African American writer, feminist, womanist, librarian, and civil rights activist asks readers to not be silent on important issues. This short, rousing read is crucial for everyone according to Thomonique Moore, a 2016 graduate of Howard University, founder of Books&Shit book club, and an incoming Masters' candidate at Columbia University's Teacher's College. 

"In this essay, Lorde explains to readers the importance of overcoming our fears and speaking out about the injustices that are plaguing us and the people around us. She challenges us to not live our lives in silence, or we risk never changing the things around us," Moore said.  Read it here>>

"The First White President" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

This essay from the award-winning journalist's book " We Were Eight Years in Power ," details how Trump, during his presidency, employed the notion of whiteness and white supremacy to pick apart the legacy of the nation's first Black president, Barack Obama.

Moore said it was crucial reading to understand the current political environment we're in. 

"Just Walk on By" by Brent Staples

In this essay, Brent Staples, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer for The New York Times, hones in on the experience of racism against Black people in public spaces, especially on the role of white women in contributing to the view that Black men are threatening figures.  

For Crystal M. Fleming, associate professor of sociology and Africana Studies at SUNY Stony Brook, his essay is especially relevant right now. 

"We see the relevance of his critique in the recent incident in New York City, wherein a white woman named Amy Cooper infamously called the police and lied, claiming that a Black man — Christian Cooper — threatened her life in Central Park. Although the experience that Staples describes took place decades ago, the social dynamics have largely remained the same," Fleming told Insider. 

"I Was Pregnant and in Crisis. All the Doctors and Nurses Saw Was an Incompetent Black Woman" by Tressie McMillan Cottom

Tressie McMillan Cottom is an author, associate professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University and a faculty affiliate at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. In this essay, Cottom shares her gut-wrenching experience of racism within the healthcare system. 

Fleming called this piece an "excellent primer on intersectionality" between racism and sexism, calling Cottom one of the most influential sociologists and writers in the US today.  Read it here>>

"A Report from Occupied Territory" by James Baldwin

Baldwin's "A Report from Occupied Territory" was originally published in The Nation in 1966. It takes a hard look at violence against Black people in the US, specifically police brutality. 

"Baldwin's work remains essential to understanding the depth and breadth of anti-black racism in our society. This essay — which touches on issues of racialized violence, policing and the role of the law in reproducing inequality — is an absolute must-read for anyone who wants to understand just how much has not changed with regard to police violence and anti-Black racism in our country," Fleming told Insider.  Read it here>>

"I'm From Philly. 30 Years Later, I'm Still Trying To Make Sense Of The MOVE Bombing" by Gene Demby

On May 13, 1985, a police helicopter dropped a bomb on the MOVE compound in Philadelphia, which housed members of the MOVE, a black liberation group founded in 1972 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Eleven people, including five children, died in the airstrike. In this essay, Gene Demby, co-host and correspondent for NPR's Code Switch team, tries to wrap his head around the shocking instance of police violence against Black people. 

"I would argue that the fact that police were authorized to literally bomb Black citizens in their own homes, in their own country, is directly relevant to current conversations about militarized police and the growing movement to defund and abolish policing," Fleming said.  Read it here>>

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Racial Identity Development Model Essay

Introduction, racial identity development models, how minority clients impact counseling process.

Racial identity development is a social and psychological process that an individual undergoes to form an identity related to a certain racial or ethnic group. When individuals encounter different racial or ethnic groups, they perform self-assessment and create an identity in response to knowledge, understanding, experiences, and actions (Thompson & Carter, 2013). Racial identity is a social construct, which individuals create, sustain, and transform, depending on the dynamics of social interactions, which occur among individuals from diverse racial, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds.

Sue and Sue (2016) argue that racial identity development has a considerable impact on the counseling process because it determines behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs of individuals. The implication is that therapists or counselors need to understand the racial identity of their clients so that they can provide unique and customized therapy based on their racial identity. Therefore, this essay describes racial identity development models associated with the minorities and elucidates their impact on the counseling process.

Black Identity Development Model

As members of the minority race, Blacks have a unique experience, which has made them have a similar pattern of racial identity. Sue and Sue (2016) describes Black identity development model as a five-stage process that Blacks undergo in forming their racial identity from negative view to positive view of themselves. Pre-encounter is the first stage where Blacks view themselves negatively but view Whites positively for they want assimilation.

When Blacks experience the reality of racism, they enter the second stage, which is the encounter stage. At this stage, Blacks realize that they cannot assimilate fully to the White race, and thus, they retract their assimilation process and start to identify with their Black race (Thompson & Carter, 2013). In the immersion-emersion stage, the third stage, Blacks begin to value their race for the sense of guilt and fear disappears whereas pride and esteem rejuvenate. At the fourth stage, internalization, Blacks resolve their racial identity because there is a conflict between the new and old identities.

The resolution of racial identities makes Blacks culturally competent for they become tolerant, flexible, and multicultural people (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2016). In forming their racial identity, Blacks enter the fifth stage of internalization-commitment. At this stage, Blacks begin to advocate for social justice, civil rights, and social change. This model of identity development emanates from the experience of African Americans during the civil rights movement.

Asian American Development Model

Asian Americans are in the process of acculturation for they have a positive view of the White race. The model elucidates how acculturation, exposure, cultural competence, and social factors influence racial identity development among Asian Americans. At the first stage, family members or caretakers expose children aged 3 to 4 to their ethnicity, and thus, shape their ethnic awareness.

When children attain the age of schooling, they enter the second stage where they encounter prejudice and racism, which compel them to identify with Whites. After enduring discrimination and racism, children enter the third stage where they abandon identification with Whites and commence to wake up for they gain social and political consciousness brought about by civil rights movements (Thompson & Carter, 2013).

The fourth stage is the redirection stage where American Asians realize White racism and begin to connect with their culture and heritage. At the fifth stage, which in the incorporation stage, Asian Americans attain cultural competence for they can identify with their culture and respect other cultures.

Latino/Hispanic American Development Model

The basis of this development model is that it considers cultural factors, the marginalized status of Latinos, forced assimilation, pride in one’s culture, and freedom of choice. The process of racial identity development commences with the causal stage where there is the inability to identify with Latino culture due to negative views in the social environment (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2016). Subsequently, Latinos enter the cognitive stage where negative views make them perceive themselves as poor and marginalized, and the assimilation becomes the only way of improving their lives and attaining success.

At the consequence stage, Sue and Sue (2016) describe it as a stage where Latinos do experience embarrassment, rejection, and stigma due to negative images of skin color, cultural norms, and accent among other attributes. At the stage of working-through, Latinos resolve their identity for they are unable to cope with double identities, and thus, they revert to their racial identity. At the fifth stage, there is a successful resolution of racial identity for Latinos attain complete acceptance of their ethnicity and race.

The analysis of racial identity models shows that the minority groups such as African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos have shared similar trends in the racial identity process. The minority clients require customization of the counseling process to suit their experiences, exposure, and perceptions of dominant cultures and races. According to Sue and Sue (2016), oppression is a key factor that determines and drives racial identity among the minority groups.

In this view, counselors need to understand their clients regarding the nature of oppressions they have undergone and customize therapy to minimize oppressive effects and enable clients to attain positive racial identity. Since clients undergo different stages of racial identity development based on the culture, the development models enable counselors to design a comprehensive and effective therapy that targets each stage and culture (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2016). Furthermore, the model enables counselors to design and undertake multicultural counseling, which empowers clients to formulate their identity effectively. With the help of the model, counselors assess beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of clients and guide them accordingly to resolve conflicting identities.

The minority clients at the conformity stage require therapists whom they perceive to be effective and competent. A conformity client reacts negatively to a minority counselor and positively to a majority counselor (Sue & Sue, 2016). In this view, a minority counselor has a challenge of alleviating resistance and hostility from a conformity client from the same race and culture. In contrast, a majority counselor experiences a challenge of diagnosing and treating a conformity client because appeasement has a confounding effect (Thompson & Carter, 2013). Thus, for counselors to overcome conformity issues, they need to assess clients and determine the degree of conformity so that they can prevent the occurrence of undesirable outcomes such as resistance, negativism, hostility, and appeasement. From the perspective of therapy, conformity individuals require task-oriented approach in the resolution of their issues related to racial identity.

The examination and description of the racial identity development models show that the minority clients have a unique way of forming their identity. Majorly, the experience of oppression is the core attribute that determines the course of racial identity development. Racial identity development models of Blacks, Asian Americans, and Latinos follow the same trends because they have a similar experience of oppression.

Consequently, the minority clients have major implications on the counseling process. The impacts of the minority clients are that they require customization of counseling process to suit their experience, exposure, and perceptions. The minority clients also require counselors to understand their racial and cultural values so that they can design comprehensive multicultural process of counseling. Moreover, clients require therapists to categorize them into different stages such as conformity stage and provide appropriate treatment.

Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, D. (2016). Counseling and psychotherapy: Theories and interventions . Alexandria, VA : American Counseling Association.

Sue, D., & Sue, D. (2016). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (7 th ed.). Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.

Thompson, C., & Carter, R. (2013). Racial identity theory: Applications to individual, group, and organizational interventions. New York, NY: Routledge.

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Rachel Dolezal and Racial Identity

Readers discuss issues raised by a white woman’s efforts to pass as black.

To the Editor: Recognizing this country’s history of white supremacy and racial oppression, Rachel Dolezal understands blackness to be significant less as a biological fact than as a political and cultural identity, and she has chosen to become black on these terms. But in doing so covertly, she has asked, and indeed expected, others to vouch for that identity under false pretenses. The nature of her embeddedness with black people and institutions — as president of the N.A.A.C.P. in Spokane and an instructor in the Africana studies department at Eastern Washington University — teeters uncomfortably toward treating these allies, at least in part, as props and scenery for her highly constructed identity.

The painful paradox is that in trying to fight the good fight, she has in effect exploited the black people she has been so committed to liberating to accrue the collateral benefit of fulfilling her personal desire to become a righteous soul sister.

How much more powerful a statement it might have been if as an “out” blond, fair-skinned white woman she had openly claimed a black political identity and pursued the struggle with the same dedication.

MARK BURFORD

Portland, Ore.

To the Editor: Earlier this month, you published Elinor Burkett’s Sunday Review essay “ What Makes a Woman? ,” which criticized Caitlyn Jenner for declaring that she is a woman after reaping all the benefits of growing up as a man.

Then Ms. Burkett was criticized herself. People asked, does this mean that no one can be transgender?

Now, Rachel Dolezal is being criticized for identifying herself as black, even though she grew up white. Does labeling oneself “black” play down the challenges faced by those who do not have the luxury of switching between races? Or should we seek to be inclusive of those who identify as a different race, just as we are of those who identify as a different gender?

As a white male, I don’t know the answers, but I hope we can have this necessary discussion.

JESS COLEMAN

To the Editor: As an African-American woman of similar physical appearance to Rachel Dolezal, I read about her with interest. Rather than offend, her story makes me question what would make a white girl want to be a member of a historically scorned group.

My parents were both light-skinned African-Americans. Growing up in Compton, Calif., in the black-is-beautiful era, I was ever conscious of my extremely light skin. That it offered me a certain freedom was a reality I fought long and hard to ignore. I could walk down a crowded street unnoticed even as my brown-skinned brother would cause the same people to cross the street.

It was not until I moved to a rural part of New York that I got a chance to really live in and experience white America. Sadly, in faculty lounges there was always a colleague weighing in on some issue of color with bigoted zeal, forgetting my race because of my light skin.

I don’t see any real pathology in Ms. Dolezal’s desire to live in a different skin. I only see questions that need addressing by everyone. What if she just got sick and tired of being the fly on the wall, hearing thoughtless racist comments made even more despicable by the assumption that all those with white skin feel the same way? Maybe the pathology in this story lies not with Ms. Dolezal but with a race-obsessed culture in which happiness is apparently only skin-deep.

GWEN DAVIS-FELDMAN

Cameron Mills, N.Y.

To the Editor: It’s strange that Rachel Dolezal says of her guardianship of her younger black sibling, “I certainly can’t be seen as white and be Izaiah’s mom.” Really? Where does that leave biracial children of white mothers or fathers?

She seems to want to pick and choose what suits her disguise. How does she explain suing Howard University, a historically black university, on the basis of being discriminated against because she is white? Is that really something that a person who identifies as black and sees herself as a black civil rights advocate would do? Not to mention pretending that a black man is her father.

This is not about how she sees herself. It’s about purposely choosing to pretend to be black to gain attention while appropriating a false history and personal story for her own benefit. It’s all very disturbing.

LOIS WOOD RUSSO

Bourne, Mass.

To the Editor: Racial fluidity is nothing new. Of course we know that some African-Americans have attempted to pass as white because of the racism in the United States. Less well known, however, is the case of Mezz Mezzrow, a jazz saxophonist, who lived in Harlem with his African-American wife.

He wrote a book published in 1946 called “Really the Blues” in which he insisted that he was a “voluntary Negro.” His belief that he was black extended to persuading the warden of a prison where he was serving time for drug possession that he should be listed as “Negro” and placed in the blacks-only unit of the prison. He said he was far more comfortable there than in the whites-only units.

JOHN DOUARD

Montclair, N.J.

To the Editor: I am Christian and married a nonreligious but culturally Jewish woman 30 years ago. She remains the love of my life, and our kids are now wonderful adults who also identify themselves as Jewish. Over time, I have grown to “feel” Jewish myself. I even feel a bit insulted and left out when I am singled out as the only one in the family who is Christian.

I can understand feeling so identified with a certain group that you wish you were born into that group, so identified that even a reminder that you are separate from that group hurts. I can understand Rachel Dolezal. But I would never consider lying about it. I wish Ms. Dolezal hadn’t either. There’s no doubt in my mind that she would have been welcomed into the African-American community just the way she was.

To the Editor: Yes, it is disturbing that someone who heads a chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. would lie about her own racial identity. Rachel Dolezal’s parents, who knew about this misrepresentation for several years, are making it clear to the media just how white their daughter is. But what kind of parents would put so much energy into proving their daughter a liar rather than trying to sort out the problems that clearly must have plagued her over the years? As a parent, I find that equally disturbing.

CATHY BERNARD

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — About Myself — My Racial Autobiography: Understanding Identity and Fighting for Justice

My Racial Autobiography: Understanding Identity and Fighting for Justice

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Published: Feb 7, 2024

Words: 571 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

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Family background and cultural identity, racial identity development, personal experiences with racism, intersectionality, community involvement and activism.

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Home > Conferences and Symposia > Young Historians > 2024 > 1

Young Historians Conference 2024

Immigrant Identity Formation, A Transnational Approach: Italian Americans in New York City, 1880-1930

Presenter Information

Amelia J. Vena , Grant High School Follow

5-3-2024 12:30 PM

5-3-2024 1:45 PM

• Disciplines

Italian Americans, Repatriation, Transnationalism, Ethnicity, Identity (Philosophical concepts) -- Social aspects, Immigrants -- 19th century, Immigrants -- 20th century

Of the Italian immigrants arriving in America during the Great Migration (1880-1924), few understood themselves as “Italians.” On paper, Italian unification took place in 1861, but the creation of Italy as a unit of politics was not the creation of Italians as a unit of nation. Even decades later, immigrants landing in New York City understood themselves in regional terms—as Calabrians, Sicilians, and Neapolitans. “Italian national identity” remained an idea confined to the imaginations of wealthy and educated Italian nationalists. In the years that followed the Great Migration, immigrants reshaped Italian-American identity as they grappled with American ideas of race and national belonging. Here, a transnational analytical framework is applied to the study of Italian-American identity formation to understand how the social and economic connections migrants forged between their hometown villages and overseas enclaves transformed experiences of identity. From the strictly regional affiliations immigrants arrived with, Italian ethnic identity was redefined by transnational experiences of nation into something truly novel, an immigrant identity that produced vivid experiences of feeling Italian-American.

Part of the panel: Exploring Global Cultural Identities Moderator: Professor Bright Alozie

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