Audio Lectures on the History of Racial Classification

Welcome to the sim "The Study of Racialism" (TSOR), sponsored by Backintyme Publishing. The pictures come from our discussion group's topic presentations.

The criteria that U.S. courts used over the past 250 years to classify Americans by "race".

18-century drawing depicting a slave coffle in Africa.

This picture, from our "heredity" topic, shows James Earl Jones (left) and his son (right).

Quincy Jones and daughter.

From our topic on pigmentation, shows blonde children native to the Solomon Islands (left) and Australia (right). Around the world, most kids' hair darkens in their teens.

All of these pictures come from our discussion group's topic presentations.

Map of ice-age glaciation from "Prehistoric Migrations" topic.

Global map of human skin pigmentation.

Shows percent of Euro (top) and Afro (bottom) admixture in four populations: White Americans, African Americans, natives of Zaire, natives of Nigeria.

Ten of the many "races" identified in the mid-20th century.

The probability that a child will be darker (or lighter) than both parents is 1/4. So, the probability of one sibling darker and the other lighter than both is 1/16.

Eartha Kitt, daughter, and granddaughter. From our "Heredity" topic.

Graph of census-reported African-American outmarriage since 1850. (Every other ethnic group outmarries at ten times this rate.)

Children of families of mixed heritage span the human spectrum (even those of celebrity families).

Fraternal twins. The probability that a child will be darker (or lighter) than both parents is 1/4. So, the probability of one sibling darker and the other lighter than both is 1/16.

Fraternal twins.

Family of mixed Afro-Euro ancestry.

U.S. folklore says that a Black mom cannot have a White child. This is Charles E. Byrd, leader of the census multiracial movement of the 1990s and former publisher of Interracial Voice magazine, with his mom.

Fraternal twins. The probability that a child will be darker (or lighter) than both parents is 1/4. So, the probability of one sibling darker and the other lighter than both is 1/16.

U.S. folklore says that a Black mom cannot have a White child.

U.S. folklore says that a Black mom cannot have a White child.

From the topic "The Black/White Test-Score Gap."

Multiracial family.

Fraternal twins. The probability that a child will be darker (or lighter) than both parents is 1/4. So, the probability of one sibling darker and the other lighter than both is 1/16.

Multiracial family. All of these pictures come from our discussion group's topic presentations.

For the story of the Klan's defeat by a band of armed Lumbees in 1958, see "Melungeons, Redbones, and Other U.S. Maroons."

Multiracial family.

U.S. folklore says that a Black mom cannot have a White child.

Map of the transatlantic slave trade from "DNA Admixture in the U.S."

Newswoman Soledad O'Brien (of Cuban heritage) self-identifies as a Black woman and has instructed her children that they are Black as well, no matter what others say.

Carol Channing's father was born into the African-American community but did not impose his self-identity on his children.

Alexander Pushkin was of mixed Afro-Euro ancestry but would have been puzzled by anyone labeling him as involuntarily Black,

John James Audubon was of mixed Afro-Euro ancestry but would have been puzzled by anyone labeling him as involuntarily Black,

Sally Hemings's grandson John Wayles Jefferson self-identified as White, like his parents Eston Hemings and Julia Anne Isaacs.

Heather Locklear is of the Lumbee triracial (maroon) community. Lumbees average about 35 percent sub-Saharan DNA admixture overall.

U.S. folklore says that a Black mom cannot have a White child.

The Melugeons are a triracial (maroon) community of the Cumberland Plateau, one of the few such groups who self-identify as White (often aggressively so).

U.S. folklore says that a Black mom cannot have a White child.

Peter Ustinov's grandmother was Ethiopian.

One of Backintyme Publishing's titles. For others, see the the books displayed on tables throughout the building. Click on any book to open its web page.