The debate over potential addition of a multiracial category to the 2000 census forced the nation to reflect upon important questions concerning the possibility of multiracialism and the reality of racial categories. At the heart of this controversy was the question of what it means to be multiracial in the U.S. How do individuals with one Black and one White parent understand their racial identity? What social and psychological factors influence their racial identity construction and maintenance? This book answers these important questions by presenting findings from the largest existing data set of Black/White individuals. Using both in-depth interviews and survey data, the authors document how Biracial people develop a number of different racial identities and how these self-understandings are rooted in intriguing social, psychological, and cultural processes. The findings from this groundbreaking study provide a new and complex empirical foundation for future debates about the efficacy of multiracialism and the future of racial categorization in America.
