“I read Black, White, Other: Biracial Americans Talk About Race and Identity at a very pivotal time in my life. As a bi-racial adoptee growing up in Lake Oswego, Oregon, I had more than your normal angst about creating my own identity and figuring out who I am and who I belong to. In 1995, when the paperback was first released, I had just moved from Oregon to Durham, North Carolina, for graduate school. And while the transition from the Pacific Northwest to the Old North State would be jarring for anyone, it held unique challenges and tests for my nascent and fragile sense of self. Reading Black, White, Other was one of the first times I realized that I was not alone, that in fact, there were many other people across the country (and around the globe) who struggled with ‘which box to check’ and what to tell strangers when they asked that fateful question, ‘What are you?’ I’ve shared Black, White, Other with many of my students who identify as bi-racial and with friends who have bi-racial children. And even though the political and social landscape of our country has changed dramatically in the last twenty years, this book, in many ways, is just as relevant today as it was in 1995.”
