What Does “Black”Mean? Exploring the Epistemological Stranglehold of Racial Categorization * DAVID L. BRUNSMA ** (Departmentof Sociology, University ofAlabama in Huntsville) KERRY ANN ROCKQUEMORE (Departmentof Sociology, Boston College) ABSTRACT The “check all that apply”approach to race onthe 2000 census has igniteda conceptual debateover the meaningand usefulness ofracial categories.This debateis most intense overthe category“ black”because ofthe historically unique way that blackness has beende ned. Though the livedreality ofmany peopleof color has changed overthe pastthree decades,we questionwhether the construct black has mirrored these changes andif “ black”remains avalidanalytic or discursive unittoday. While black racial groupmembership has historically beende ned using the one-droprule, we test the contemporarysalience ofthis classication norm byexamining racial identityconstruction amongmultiracial people.We ndthat that the one-droprule has lost the powerto determine racial identity,while the meaningof black is becomingincreasingly multidimensional,varied, and * The authorswish to thank RodneyCoates, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Robert Newby, and RainierSpencer for their comments onthis article. ** Direct allcorrespondence to: David L. Brunsma, Department ofSociology, University ofAlabamain Huntsville,Huntsville, AL 35899. E-mail: [email protected] Critical Sociology, Volume 28,issue 1-2 Ó 2002Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden 102 Brunsma &Rockquemore ² contextually specic. Ultimately, we arguethat social,cultural andeconomic changes inpost-CivilRights America necessitate are-evaluationof the validityof black as social construct and re-assessment ofits’ continued use insocial science research. The 2000census was a watershedevent inhow we conceptualize “ race” inAmerica.The decisionto allow individuals to check multiplecategories when describingtheir racial identity has resultedin a statisticalquagmire inwhich there arenow 63 different racial categories (Grieco and Cassidy 2001).The “check all thatapply” approach to race has alsoignited a conceptualdebate over the meaning andusefulness of racial categories. Thisdebate is most intense overthe category“ black”because of the historicallyunique way that blackness has been dened. 1 While many thoughtthe optionwould have little impacton the waythat black people wouldself-identify, both demographers and politicians were surprised by early ndingsthat more blacks than expected identied themselves as multiracialon theircensus forms. Nearly 1.8million people checked black and atleast oneother race as an indicationof their racial identity. 2 In additionto the statisticalproblems that have resultedfrom multiple race responses,recent changes inthe censushave set inmotion a validity crisisthat social scientists, politicians, and policy makers mustengage. We believe the outcomeof discussions concerning the validityof racial categoriesin general, andthe constructblack in particular,are at the heart ofunderstandingpresent and future issues of raceand identity in American society. The construct black has been usedin a variety ofcomplex and contradictoryways in social science literature.Black has been considered todescribe a commonset ofsocial experiences; however, itis not currently accuratein depicting a monolithicassemblage ofsimilar situations and circumstances.The constructblack historically has correspondedto issues ofskin colorthat somehow bind individuals into a collective body; however, the empiricalreality ofphenotype is one of increasingly striking variation andheterogeneity, notsimilitude and homogeneity. Black has been used tosignify a collective structurallocation typically associatedwith restricted 1 Althoughwe have great reservations about using terms suchas “ race,”“black,” “white” and“ biracial”because they represent socialconstructions as opposed to biologically based human categories,we recognize that their useis necessary for the purposeof ourargument. Wemust use standard racial terms in order toproblematize their meaning,validity and continueduse in socialscience research. Readersshould interpret theseterms as“ concepts” (in quotes)that arenot groundedin any empirically demonstrable,biological reality. 2 Multiplerace identication is most pronounced among young people, with 8percent ofblacks under 17choosing more than onerace ascompared to only 2percent ofthose 50and older. WhatDoes “Black”Mean 103 ² opportunities,economic disadvantage, and community disorganization; however,the opportunitystructure has alteredsigni cantly overthe past three decadesand the socioeconomicstatus of black individuals is now quitevaried. Black has been describedas an expressionof a unique culturalspace with a particularcollection of values, norms,and strategies; however, whilemany whowrite and think aboutrace have rhetoricallyand theoreticallyarticulated black culture, concomitant structural, historical andmaterial changes have resultedin a widevariety ofcultural spaces. The constructblack, has alsobeen usedas an identity,a marker,a social category,a statement ofself-understanding, indeed a sociallyimposed parameterof the self; however, the terrainof identity is increasingly multifaceted, uid,and dynamic – anegotiatedterrain not encapsulated in onecolossal concept. While the lived reality ofmany peopleof color has changedsince the passageof Civil Rights legislation, we questionwhether the constructblack has mirroredthese changes.In otherwords, given the many waysthat black has been usedin the past,does its’ meaning remain avalidanalytic or discursive unit today? 3 Associologists, we consider concepts to be valid to the extent that the descriptionsof empirical reality they express arecorrect. Applying thisassumption to racial categorization begs the question:are the waysthat we understand “ black”re ective ofempirical reality? The answerto that question often depends on one’ s politics,theoretical orientation,discipline, profession, position in the classstructure, and/ or one’s race.Though various interest groups may justifythe existence of particularself-serving denitions of what black means, membershipin a collective bodyshould not alter consensus on the validityof a concept. Furthermore,the continueduse of invalid constructs in research, policy debates,and public discourse results in their rei cation, affecting the very experiences ofthe individualsand groups that the originalconstruct has misrepresented.Is itpossible that the reication of black has reached sucha plateau?By focusingon black as a socialidentity, we will argue thatit has, necessitating a re-evaluationof the validityof black as a socialconstruct and re-assessment ofits’ continued use in social science research. Over the courseof U.S. history, many socialscientists have been primarilyconcerned with the question“ Who is black? ”makingit possible todesignate a populationthat could be tracked and studied. Framing the discoursein this way enabled an examinationof the underlyingracist 3 Thoughwe are framing the validitycrisis in racialcategorization in terms of contemporary socialand cultural change,we recognize that thesehave never been valid constructs andhave been challenged by sociologists from DuBois(1898) to Zuberi (2001). 104 Brunsma &Rockquemore ² assumptionsused to categorize individuals, while allowing for descriptive analyses ofhow a brutallymarginalized group of people experienced the socialworld. As researchers interested in process, structure, and identity (as well asfrom the standpointof validity concerns) we believe thatthe moresalient questiontoday is: What does black mean ?The formerquestion, Who is black? ,invokes the powerof social context over individual identity construction.Speci cally, thisquestion and the answerto it (most notably inDavis1991), emphasize the powerof social structure and racist ideology inestablishingstrict parameters of identityoptions available toindividuals. ThroughoutU.S. history, racial identity has been legally, andlater culturallydetermined by the one-droprule, thereby givingindividuals with any knownblack ancestry no choice other than toidentify as black.While it isvaluable tounderstand that historically rooted, structurally parameterized identity“ options”re ect the socialrealities of individual’ s lives andtheir dened groupmemberships, dramatic reductions in structural barriers over the pastthree decadesnecessitate ashiftaway from how structure de nes individualidentity (Who isblack?), towardsan analysis ofhow closely individuals’racial self-understandings correspond to the unquestioned,all- encompassing,construct “ black”frequently used by social scientists (What doesblack mean?). Consideringthe historicalentrenchment ofthe one- droprule and recent research on racial identity among mixed-race people, wewishto press social scientists to fundamentally reassess boththe meaning and validity ofthe socialconstruct black in the faceof structuraland cultural changes inthe U.S. In orderto explore the validityof black as a socialidentity and its continuedusefulness as an analyticconstruct, it is necessary torstconsider the ideologicalfoundation underlying black categorization in the U.S.After describingthe socio-historicaland economic roots of the one-droprule, wewill question its’ contemporary salience indetermining racial identity. Toanswer this question, we explore racial identity development among individualswith one black and one white parent. The in-betweenstatus ofmixed-race people provides a criticalcase totest the strengthof the one-droprule, the meaning ofblack as a socialidentity