Question One

Anglo America developed a one-drop rule—stemming from the roots of slavery—when dealing with the offspring of what society refers to as "racial/cultural mixtures". This rule says that a person for example who has both black and white ancestry is immediately classified as black, even if the person is 1/8th black. Such hypodescent rules applied to anyone who was not white. The purpose of this classification was to maintain and preserve the "white race", as well as to maintain power and status of the higher castes. (Morning, 49)
Such an identity choice and labeling functions in many different ways. For the dominant group, it reinforces the notion of white supremacy, while the subordinate group gets lower status in society. Anyhow, many mixed people do not even attempt to question such a rule, given that it has been socially conditioned and accepted as the norm. For many mixed African, Asian, and Hispanic Americans, choosing their single ethnic identity is seen as......

Join Now to view the rest of this term paper!
Members: Login to view this research paper.

Title: African American Studies
Approximate Word Count: 1757
Approximate Pages: 8 (250 words per double-spaced page)

With the Term Papers Lab Membership Pass, you get instant access to every essay on this site, including this essay on African American Studies, for as long as you remain a member.

Other essays sites charge almost $100 for a single term paper. At Term Papers Lab, you can get instant access to over 100,000 research papers for as little as $29.95!