Tuckey Buzzard Lay Me

This chapter examines sexual exploitation and violence in the antebellum South and what it meant for an enslaved person to have a white father. Evaluations of white fathers varied considerably depending on how that father treated his illegitimate offspring, how slave communities treated mixed-race children (which also varied), and an individual’s sense of identity, which was tied to these other factors. Biracial children at times expressed admiration for the few white fathers who openly acknowledged their children and provided freedom and education. They tended to be more ambivalent about white fathers who offered a privileged status on the plantation but not freedom. African American communities expressed particular disdain for white fathers who violated paternal duty by abusing or selling their own children. Reactions to white fathers highlight slaves and former slaves’ consistent notions of paternal duty. African American communities understood that white people had a monopoly on concrete power, but that did not mean they had honor.

Creating Family and Community across Military Fencelines

This chapter looks into strategies that military-Okinawan couples employ to navigate life across the fencelines and achieve acceptance for themselves and their children. It describes active-duty couples living in central Okinawa, especially young Okinawan women, who make use of military family services and successfully integrate into the U.S. military community. The stories in the chapter illustrate how couples struggle to balance commitments to the military, extended family, and local community that conform to American and Okinawan cultural expectations and contend with challenges to their relationship from both sides of the fences. It talks about factors that affect long-term chances for intimate relationships and popular attitudes toward military dating and marriage, biracial children, and broader formulations of Okinawan and U.S. military community. It also investigates several stories that demonstrate people engaging in intimate relationships across military fencelines that have the capacity to influence U.S. military–host community relationships and politics in even the most contentious locales.

Parenting Mixed Children: How to Start the Conversation about Identity

This paper explores the parenting practices of mixed union couples in Canada in an attempt to understand how these practices influence identity development in biracial children. Current theories around this topic suggest that the type of parental communication a biracial child receives influences their decision to associate with both racial identities, one racial identity, or neither. I will discuss common sources of tension that these couples face in their negotiation of racial and cultural differences. I suggest that when interracial couples disagree on how to parent their children about their mixed identities, children struggle to develop a strong understanding of who they are.

The Intelligence of Biracial Children of U.S. Servicemen in Northeast Asia: Results from Japan

The IQ averages of biracial children have long been of interest to intelligence researchers for clarifying the causes of group differences in intelligence. We carried out a search for IQ test results of biracial children fathered by U.S. servicemen after World War 2 and indigenous Asian women in northeast Asian countries (Japan, Korea, China). We were able to locate a report from Japan from a foster home (n = 28–48 biracial children across tests). Results showed that there was only a minuscule IQ gap (<1 IQ) between children of Black–Japanese and White–Japanese parents. However, interpretation of the results is difficult owing to the very small sample size, the non-representative sample, and unknown patterns of assortative mating. We suggest possible avenues for future research.

Advocating for Choice

This chapter presents data from in-depth interviews taken with activists who lobby on behalf of multiracial identities. It begins with a review of the multiracial movement to change the racial identification question on the 2000 census and outlines how activism changed after the mark-one-or-more races option on the census racial identification question was implemented. Interview data is split into two samples: those who personally self-identify as multiracial and those who are white mothers of biracial children. Interviews with self-identified multiracial activists demonstrates a clear worldview about race that emphasizes the right of personal choice. But while these activists express these strong views, they at the same time believe that established racial categories continue to influence how they are racially classified and treated by others. Interviews with white mothers reveals how parents’ ideologies about race have influenced patterns of multiracial identification.

American Soldiers and Okinawan Women

In September, 1945, with most Okinawans still in refugee camps, the U.S. military ordered elections for civilian leaders in which women were granted the right to vote for the first time, seven months earlier than in mainland Japan. Yet they were far more concerned about the many rapes committed by American soldiers. Women and girls were abducted from fields while searching for food, dragged away from their homes, and assaulted in front of their families. After months of inaction, the U.S. military decided to set up “special amusement areas” for prostitution in certain towns. Some Okinawans favoured this policy as a “breakwater” to protect women and children of “good” families, while others opposed it as exploitation of women. In 1967, at the peak of the Vietnam War, an estimated 10,000 women engaged in prostitution. In 1948 the U.S. military rescinded a ban on marriages between U.S. soldiers and Okinawan women that failed to prevent couples from having intimate relations and living together. Still, commanding officers pressured soldiers not to marry, threatening disciplinary transfers. By 1967, among thousands of biracial children in Okinawa, about half were raised by mothers or their relatives with little or no financial support from fathers.

Ethno-Racial Differences in Children’s Attitudes and Beliefs About Violence

One in 15 children in the United States are exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) each year. Although much is known about the adverse effects of witnessing IPV on children, little attention has been given to the impact of IPV on children of diverse ethno-racial backgrounds. In particular, the association between IPV and children’s attitudes and beliefs about violence across different ethno-racial populations remains to be explored. One hundred ninety children between the ages of 4 and 12 years of varying ethno-racial backgrounds who had witnessed recent IPV were interviewed regarding their attitudes and beliefs about IPV. Results show that younger children and White, Black, and Biracial children exhibited more deleterious attitudes and beliefs about violence after exposure to IPV than did older and Latina or Latino children. These findings may indicate the need for more tailored intervention programs that target the specific maladaptive beliefs expressed by children of various demographic groups.