"Deep levels of exploration of the kind presented here can weaken some of today's myths and help us grapple honestly with some of the still to be explained mysteries of racism...a giant contribution to the literature." -- From the foreword by James P. Comer "The accounts [of the African American adolescents] are both thought-provoking and extremely intimate. This book is well done and sure to create a platform for discussion and reflection. Maybe through these voices we can all learn some compassion and understanding." -- Booklist "This remarkable collection of first-person narratives brings the voices of black and biracial students into a new conversation about human development. As the students open their souls to reflect on their experiences of childhood and adolescence, they invite us to think with them about the effects of racism and also about courage, resistance and hope. This book is for everyone." -- Carol Gilligan, author of In a Different Voice "The book illumines a subject that has been largely ignored by the academy and the professions...Also, the combination of theory and narrative as a pedagogical approach proves to be therapeutic for the narrators and the reader." -- Mr Ronald W. Galvin, Journal of Moral Education
TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Social Class and Race Class and Race in Negotiating Identity 1. Born with a Veil 2. What Is Black Enough? 3. Living between the Lines 4. I Reconcile the Irreconcilable II. Identity The Social Construction of Race, Ethnicity, and Culture The Intersections of Identity 5. Color-blind 6. Walking a Thin Line 7. Becoming Myself 8. Becoming Comfortable in My Skin 9. Caught between Two Cultures 10. Lost in the Middle III. Resiliance and Resistance Resiliance and Resistance 11. Gotta Keep Climbin' All de Time 12. Finding Zion 13. Feeling the Pressure to Succeed 14. Running Hurdles 15. Reflections on My Survival 16. Quest for Peace
Dartmouth College and is co-editor of Adolescent Portraits (1999). Janie Victoria Ward is Associate Professor of Education and Human Services at Simmons College and is co-editor of Mapping the Moral Domain (1988). Tracy L.Robinson is Associate Professor in the Department of Counselor Education at North Carolina State University and is co-author of The Convergence of Race, Ethnicityand Gender (1999). Robert Kilkenny is co-editor of Adolescent Portraits (1999) and is Clinical Instructor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School.