Black identity in biracial black/white people: a comparison of Jacqueline who refuses to be exclusively black and Adolphus who wishes he were.
Two biracial college freshmen, both of whom identify as Black, were chosen from a larger sample of participants in a qualitative study of biracial identity development to exemplify the differences in the paths that 2 biracial individuals could take to achieve racial identity resolution. Through the case study method, the authors describe the course and progression of racial identity development (RID) in these 2 individuals and discuss some key themes in their lives that have contributed to the development of their RID. The purposes are fourfold: to describe nonclinical subjective experiences of being biracial in the United States, to explore the differences in the paths that 2 biracial individuals can take to achieve what looks superficially like similar Black racial identity resolution, to demonstrate how identifying as Black can have different meanings and consequences for 2 biracial people, and to contribute to the differentiation of Black RID from biracial Black/White RID. The authors raise questions about the generalizability of monoracial Black and ethnic identity theories to biracial individuals.
Gillem
A R
AR
Department of Psychology, Arcadia University, 450 South Easton Road, Glenside, Pennsylvania 19038-3295, USA. gillem@arcadia.edu
Cohn
L R
LR
Throne
C
C
D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000523:psychology*; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010379:Peer Group; D011287:Prejudice; D012933:Social Identification; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology