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Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture
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Institutions, inculcation, and black racial identity: pigmentocracy vs. the rule of hypodescent
Richard T. Middleton Iv
a a

Political Science, University of Missouri St Louis, St Louis, Missouri, USA Published online: 09 Sep 2008.

To cite this article: Richard T. Middleton Iv (2008) Institutions, inculcation, and black racial identity: pigmentocracy vs. the rule of hypodescent, Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, 14:5, 567-585, DOI: 10.1080/13504630802343390 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13504630802343390

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Social Identities Vol. 14, No. 5, September 2008, 567585

Institutions, inculcation, and black racial identity: pigmentocracy vs. the rule of hypodescent
Richard T. Middleton IV*
Political Science, University of Missouri St Louis, St Louis, Missouri, USA (Received 10 December 2007; nal version received 24 April 2008)

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This research paper investigates the effect political institutions have on black racial identity. In particular, I study individual inculcation in contexts where political institutions institutionalize either of two forms of racial social structures a pigmentocracy (the Dominican Republic), or the rule of hypodescent (the US South), and the effect such inculcation has on black racial identity. I sampled 101 respondents from the Dominican Republic and 102 from the state of Mississippi, USA. Consistent with the basic assumptions of my hypotheses, respondents in the Dominican Republic study sites showed a weaker degree of identification with blackness vis-a ` -vis something whiter. Nevertheless, respondents in the Dominican Republic sites demonstrated a stronger identification with blackness than what most conventional observers would have anticipated. Respondents in the Mississippi study sites showed a stronger sense of identification with blackness. Surprisingly, however, Mississippi respondents demonstrated a larger degree of neutrality than expected in their belief of being of a mixed racial heritage rather than just a black African heritage. Keywords: black identity; Dominican Republic; United States; racial identity; ethnic identity; black Caribbean

This research paper investigates the effect political institutions have on black racial identity. In particular, I study individual inculcation in contexts where political institutions institutionalize either of two forms of racial social structures a pigmentocracy1 (see Sawyer, Sidanius & Pena, 2004; Sidanius, Pena & Sawyer, 2001) or the rule of hypodescent (see Davis, 2001; Hickman, 1997) and the effect such inculcation has on the construction of black racial identity. Investigation of the social construction of racial identity is an endeavor that has been undertaken by a number of scholars (Crenshaw, 1995; Omi & Winant, 1994; Winant, 2000). In an insightful work, Melissa Nobles (2000) investigated how the United States Census bureau has institutionalized race by refining its definition of the various races in the United States over the years since the Census inception (Nobles, 2000). Nobles argues that ideas about race are partly created and enlivened by census bureaus, which thus structure political outcomes (Nobles, 2000). Implicit in Nobles findings is that institutions matter in the social construction of race particularly, that institutions ascribe racial identities on mass populations through legal definitions. These legal definitions have the potential power to serve as a source of cohesive racial identity or perhaps discord (Haney-Lopez, 1996). Therefore, it is important to investigate the effect individual inculcation in distinct institutionalized racial contexts has on racial identity.
*Email: middletonrt@umsl.edu
ISSN 1350-4630 print/ISSN 1363-0296 online # 2008 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/13504630802343390 http://www.informaworld.com

568 Literature on black racial identity

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Some of the earliest theories regarding the formation of racial identity emanate from sociopsychology literature (see Helms, 1990; Sidanius et al., 2001; Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). This line of literature focuses on the impact of perceived racial-group membership juxtaposed to other racial group nonmembership. Racial identity, according to Helms, is the sense of group or collective identity based on ones perception that he or she shares a common racial heritage with a particular racial group (Helms, 1990). Thus, black racial identity is the degree of a persons sense of a group or collective identity with people of black African heritage based on ones perception that he or she shares a common racial heritage with other people of black African ancestry (Helms, 1990). Two theories in particular that attempt to explain black racial identity formation, client-as-problem (CAP) perspective and the Nigresense or racial identity development perspective (NRID), have emanated from the socio-psychology literature (Helms, 1990). The client-as-problem perspective argues that historically, whites viewed African Americans as being violent and hostile and nonapproachable in a diplomatic or benevolent fashion. Consequently, whites began to examine the behavior of African Americans and characterize their actions to be able to quickly discern which blacks were more likely to be problematic than others (Helms, 1990). The racial identity development perspective, on the other hand, proposes that individuals of black African ancestry can move from unhealthy, white-defined, stages of identity, to more healthy, self-defined racial identity. African Americans are argued to go through five stages of racial identity: pre-encounter, encounter, immersion, emersion, and internalization. This approach holds that the ability of African Americans to transcend these stages of black racial identity is contingent upon the degree of interaction they have with white society (Helms, 1990). Both perspectives approach racial identity from the lens of the self and broader racial groups rather than that of an institutional perspective. The social-psychology literature is useful for understanding some of the root elements of the societal and psychological elements of racial identity. However, it is limited in its ability to explain the rich contextual histories of national building and the role of political institutions in the development of racial identity. In particular, the interaction between agenda forwarding by institutions of government and issues of social class, ethnocentrism, and nation building is a critically important factor to consider (Omi & Winant, 1994). Given the reality that these aforementioned factors has often been closely intertwined with the construction of racial identity, a more nuanced line of literature has evolved (see for example, Anderson, 1983; Marx, 1997; Nettleford, 2000; Sawyer et al. 2004). This line of literature guides the framework used in this paper; that is, a political-institutional approach. Such an approach aims at explaining how the legacy of nationalism, patriotism, and racism has shaped racial identity. From this tradition, three major hypotheses have evolved the inclusionary discrimination hypothesis, or pigmentocracy, the Iberian exceptionalism thesis, and the rule of hypodescent. In this paper, I focus on the rule of hypodescent and the pigmentocracy theses. Pigmentocracy The pigmentocracy concept is an outgrowth of social dominance theory (see Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). Social dominance theory predicts that the status of ones racial group should be related to ones level of patriotic attachment to the nation. Quite often, the nation, which Benedict Anderson (1983) refers to as an imagined political community, is linked to definitions of racial identity. Given this, whites, being the socially dominant race, should

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have greater nationalistic attachment to the nation than blacks, the socially inferior race. It also predicts that as social status increases, the nexus between ideas of group dominance and patriotism should increase. Lastly, this theory posits that there should also be an asymmetrical relationship between racial identity and patriotism as a function of racial status. This theory, as applied to the Spanish Caribbean context, posits that society in the Spanish Caribbean can be viewed as forming a consensually agreed upon racial hierarchy rooted in skin pigmentation (Sawyer et al., 2004). Whites are assumed to be the dominant group, mixed-raced individuals the middle, and blacks the subordinate group. This belief of a hierarchy in racial structure is rooted in a scale of skin color gradations (pigmentocracy) and a belief that an individual can fall on different spots of the scale based on his or her skin color (Sawyer et al., 2004). This is as opposed to clear delineation of skin pigmentation, or a binary code as is the case with the rule of hypodescent. Rule of hypodescent The rule of hypodescent is rooted in belief of a binary division of races a racially dominant group and racially subordinate group. The rule does not allow room for a racial middle ground. Hypodescent is the institutional practice of assigning racially mixed people to the status of the subordinate group (Hickman, 1997). This rule, as manifested by its historical legal treatment in the United States, held that only those individuals of pure white blood were part of the dominant white racial group and any person with even a miniscule amount of black blood (in some cases, as little as one drop) made that person a part of the subordinate black racial group (Hickman, 1997). In the United States, experimentation with the use of the rule of hypodescent to construct black racial identity began as early as the 1660s when some colonies began to create institutional rules assigning children born to one black and one white parent the status of the black parent (Middleton, 2007). Colonies also began to enact laws prohibiting the mixing of races in an effort to maintain the purity of the white race (Hickman, 1997). According to Hickman, the selective practice of hypodescent was an outgrowth of the disdain white society had for blacks, interracial fornication, and a belief in the genetic inferiority of the black race (Hickman, 1997). There was a brief historical departure from the initial early use of hypodescent in the US colonies in favor of recognizing a separate racial standing for those of mixed blackwhite racial heritage. Mixed white-black individuals were typically referred to under the law as being mulatto (Middleton, 2007). From 1691 to about 1880, many states promulgated laws that bifurcated the identity of mulattoes and blacks/negroes. However, these statutes spoke of both mulattoes and blacks/negroes in the same blush and disadvantaged them the same (Middleton, 2007). By the turn of the twentieth century, state laws had begun abandoning recognition of mulattoes as a distinct racial group from blacks/negroes through the promulgation of laws rooted in the rule of hypodescent. The rule of hypodescent was institutionalized to sanction interracial (primarily blackwhite) fornication by creating a rule that denied mixed-race offspring legal standing to enjoy the privileges of membership in the dominant white racial group. In relegating anyone with as little as one-drop of black blood to the subordinate black racial group, such a person would be subject to an array of discriminatory social and legal practices used to disenfranchise blacks (Nobles, 2000). In short, whiteness was made to be the desired racial status and blackness the undesired racial status. The institutional construction of black racial identity through the use of the rule of hypodescent continued in the United States throughout the twentieth century with many states adopting one drop statutes including

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Mississippi in 1917 (Murray, 1951). Despite the fact that many African Americans in the United States had a mixed black-white racial lineage and shared similar physical characteristics as Afro-Latinos in Latin America and the Caribbean (particularly the Dominican Republic), these two regions of the world ultimately embarked upon distinct paths in the social construction of black racial identity. The institutionalization of black racial identity and contextual inculcation presents an interesting opportunity to investigate how, despite sharing a common black African racial lineage, people of black African ancestry do not necessarily share a common degree of black racial identity. The significance of black identity for fashioning a basis for coalition building is most prominent in the two largest African ancestral communities in the United States African Americans and Afro-Latinos. By Afro-Latino, I mean those individuals who are natives or descendants of natives of Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and can trace a portion of their bloodline to the black racial groups of Africa. Both the African American and Afro-Latino communities share a common heritage in that both are the descendants of black African slaves that were brought to the North and South American continents as well as the Caribbean. In addition, both the African American and Afro-Latino community present a similar range of skin-color tones, or phenotypes. However, despite being linked by a common racial heritage and sharing a similar pattern of skin phenotypes, the context of their historical specificities . . . produce the conditions for the construction of [distinct] group identities (Hamilton, 2007). As argued in this paper, the key factor in the bifurcation of the evolution of black racial identity for these two groups has been the contextual, historical role of political institutions and individual inculcation in these contexts. Black racial identity has the potential to foment coalition building between the African American and Afro-Latino communities. Negritude, a concept that has come to represent a sense of pride in black racial identity, culture, and heritage across the African diaspora, is a foundational underpinning for such coalition building (Nesbitt, 2005). Although negritude, as a term, was coined by artists of the French Caribbean, the concept can be traced to the writings of a number of political philosophers among them W.E.B. Dubois, Marcus Garvey and Martin Delany (Nesbitt, 2005). W.E.B. Dubois first posited the concept of a singular fate of African Americans in the United States, as well as the concept of a linked fate for persons of African descent in the global context of white supremacy (Dubois, 1903; Dawson, 1994). Building upon the work of Dubois, a number of scholars have found that within the African American community, the notion of a negritude is indeed real but also mitigated by important social factors (e.g., class, religion, gender) (Dawson, 1994). In some regards, the social, economic, and political diversities and complexities of people of black African ancestry have been viewed as problematic and contradictory towards building a common black identity. Scholars have noted that tremendous diversity exists among people of African descent (see for example, Hamilton, 2007; Karenga, 2003). Although individuals of black African heritage may have similar skin tones and hair textures, these broad similarities do not necessitate the alignment of individual views, opinions or personalities (Karenga, 2003). Despite the fact people of black African heritage cannot be viewed as a monolithic community, black African racial heritage is arguably the most fundamental cultural kinship between people of black African descent throughout the world. Consequently, black identity, in many ways, has the potential to impact notions of shared interests and linked fate. Some scholars would argue that black identity has the potential to serve as a more cohesive and durable foundation for coalitions between people of black African descent across African diaspora communities than does shared interests and linked fate

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(see for example Karenga, 2003; Hamilton, 2007). However, cultural understandings of what black identity means are contextual and not universally shared; therefore, the factors that shape the formation of black racial identity and how black racial identity is manifested must be investigated and understood on a case-by-case basis. This paper takes a step in this direction by exploring the attitudes towards black identity held by two of the largest black African ancestral communities African Americans and Afro-Latinos. In this paper, I examine how being inculcated in contexts where political institutions institutionalize either of two forms of racial structures a pigmentocracy or the rule of hypodescent affects ones degree of black racial identity. The two study sites for this research are the Dominican Republic and the United States South (Mississippi). My rationale for studying these two contexts is that the Dominican Republic presents an example of a society where a pigmentocracy has been institutionalized, and the United States South (in particular, the state of Mississippi), where the rule of hypodescent has been institutionalized. I chose to study Afro-Dominicans in the Dominican Republic as a subset of the Afro-Latino population because the Dominican portion of Quisqueya (an aboriginal word that refers to the island of Hispanola) represents one of the largest per capita black African and other-race mixed populations in the Americas (CIA World Factbook, 2000). As such, it serves as an exemplar for exploring how the interfusion of the black African bloodline with that of other races allows for the construction of racial hierarchies, which can in turn affect racial identity. My reasoning behind selecting Mississippi as the focus site in the United States South is that Mississippi had the highest percentage of total population that is African American of all the states in the United States (37%), yet had the lowest percentage of people who reported being of more than one-racial background in the 2000 Census evidencing a strong subscription to the rule of hypodescent (Schmitt, 2001). While scholarship has found that gradations of skin-color naming practices among African Americans have been constructed in the United States, effectively fashioning a form of racial pigmentocracy, (see for example Zack, 1993), scholarship has largely found that the rule of hypodescent was more broadly and prominently institutionalized in states that had a large percentage of African American populations (see Hickman, 1997). Specific hypotheses Pigmentocracy hypothesis The institutionalization of a pigmentocracy creates the possibility for fluid racial identities in a society. It does this by sanctioning the existence of a hierarchy of skin color gradations as opposed to a binary division of races. Quite often, there is ambiguity and confusion as to the defining characteristics that differentiate the various skin color gradations (as is the case in the Dominican Republic; see Howard, 2001). Race, therefore, has a built-in degree of in-betweenness and half-identification (attributing these concepts to the work of Rex Nettleford (2000) on black racial identity in the Caribbean specifically, Jamaica). Given these features, a pigmentocracy allows individuals to place themselves, as well as others around them, somewhere along the scale of skin color gradations. In contexts where institutions institutionalize a pigmentocracy, individuals are afforded multiple options for racial identity. Given multiple options of racial identities and a lack of consensus as to the distinguishing characteristics of the various intermediary groups of skin color gradations, individuals should believe they can move ideologically, as much as possible, away from the least desired subordinate racial group towards the most desired dominant racial group.

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Empirically, this translates into individuals of black African ancestry, being part of the subordinate group, taking advantage of the fluidness of these skin-color gradations and trying to move themselves up the scale of racial identity towards whiteness. This should manifest itself by people of black African ancestry showing a proclivity to not think of themselves as being black but something whiter.

Rule of hypodescent hypothesis The rule of hypodescent, unlike a pigmentocracy, creates a clear dichotomy in racial identity by sanctioning only two racial categories: a dominant racial group and a subordinate racial group. Skin color gradations have no stand-alone identity; rather, they are fitted within the two racial categories with any individual having anything less than pure blood of the dominant racial group being lumped into the subordinate racial group. Given this, individuals are forced to think of themselves as being a part of either one of the two racial categories. In contexts where institutions institutionalize the rule of hypodescent, individuals are afforded only two options for racial identity. Given this stringent division, individuals should not believe, ideologically, that they have a basis (e.g., skin color gradations) to move ideologically away from the undesired subordinate racial group towards the desired dominant racial group. Unlike in a pigmentocracy context, there is no racial middle ground and no varying degrees of racial group membership desirability under hypodescent. The rule of hypodescent aims to circumvent the difficulty that might otherwise exist in enforcing racist legal and social discrimination if intermediary groups of skin color gradations were legally recognized (as is the case with a pigmentocracy). Empirically, this should translate into individuals of black African ancestry, being members of the subordinate group, more steadfastly identifying themselves as being black. Method Respondents and procedure I sampled 203 total respondents; 101 from the Dominican Republic and 102 from the state of Mississippi, USA. In the Dominican Republic respondents came from the cities of Santo Domingo, the capital, and Villa Altagracia, a small city approximately 42 km (26 miles) north of Santo Domingo. In Mississippi, respondents came from the cities of Jackson, the capital, and Canton, a small city approximately 16 miles north of Jackson. In order to ascertain a broad cross-section of respondents from varied economic backgrounds, each class of participants was divided into four socio-economic status categories based upon income: Higher, Middle, Middle-Lower, and Lower. Attempts were made to acquire an equal number of respondents for each income category; however, given the reality that both study sites were primarily lower income regions, more respondents from the middle-lower and lower income categories were acquired. In the Dominican Republic, the number of respondents by income category was as follows: Higher 13, Middle 19, Middle-Lower 32, Lower 31, and No response 6. Likewise, in Mississippi, Higher 11, Middle 22, Middle-Lower 35, Lower 33 and No response 1. The income categories for the Santo Domingo and Villa Altagracia study sites were based upon the average annual income of the Dominican Republic for 2004, which was US $2145 (approximately 100,000 pesos) according to May 21, 2004 exchange rates. From this, I created quartiles for average annual income in pesos with 0 50.000 being Lower, 50.000 100.000 Middle-Lower, 100.000 150.000 Middle, and more than 150,000 being High.

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The income categories for the Jackson and Canton study sites were based upon the average annual income of the United States in 2004, which was approximately $34,000. I used the US Census Bureaus income limits for each fifth and top 5% of households for 2003 (US Census Bureau, 2003). From this came the following quartiles: $0 $17,984 Lower, $17,985 $34,000 Middle-Lower, $34,001 $54,453 Middle, and $54,454 or more, Higher. Individual income amounts were based upon the amount each respondent received as work compensation on an annual basis. Educational level was also assessed. I did this by asking respondents the highest level of education they had completed up to college. I divided the respondents into categories based on level of education; 08 years, 912 years, high school, and beyond high school. In the Dominican Republic, the number of respondents by educational category was as follows: 08 Years 1, 912 Years 14, High School 27, Beyond High School 57, and No Response 2. Likewise, in Mississippi: 08 Years 2, 912 Years 9, High School 32, Beyond High School 59 and No Response 0. For both study sites, I used the services of local residents who I trained and supervised in their data collection procedures. These individuals served as questionnaire administrators. They went door-to-door to randomly selected households, as well as walked the streets, and asked persons to participate in the study if they were 18 years of age or older had been reared from childhood in the country (Dominican Republic) or state (Mississippi). The rationale behind this participation requirement was to be able to capture only those individuals who had lived in their respective contexts at a point in their lives which inculcation in the institutional contexts was likely to have taken grasp. The questionnaire administrators were also instructed to only select participants whose skin phenotype visibly indicated they had some degree of black African ancestry. Some people who were approached to be asked to complete questionnaires did not want to participate because they were not interested in participating, did not understand what we were doing, or simply did not want to be disturbed. Individuals who did not agree to participate in this study or who initially began to complete the questionnaire process but did not finish are not included in the data set. In the Villa Altagracia study site, the locations where the surveys were administered include the following: Pueblo Nuevo, Catarey, Invi Cea, Barrio Duarte, Enzanche el Progreso and el Centro del Pueblo. In the Santo Domingo study site, questionnaires were administered in the following locations: Mirador Norte, Mirador Sur, Bella Vista, Herrera, and San Geronimo. The questionnaires in both Santo Domingo and Villa Altagracia were administered in June 2004. In the Jackson, Mississippi, study site, questionnaires were administered in the following locations: Rolling Hills, Arbor Vista/Pecan Blvd, Woodlea/ Woodhaven/Barrington Heights, and Virden Addition/Washington Addition. In the Canton study site, questionnaires were administered in the following areas: N. Liberty St, the Farmers Market, Highway 22, and W. Fulton St. The questionnaires in both Jackson and Canton were administered in July 2005. The questionnaires administered in the Dominican Republic were translated to Spanish by a native Spanish speaker and tested among a group of native Spanish speakers. The questionnaires administered in Mississippi were written in English and tested among a group of native Mississippians. Measures Inculcation in the pigmentocracy context Inculcation is the process of being taught the fundamental aspects of a belief system through a process of consistent exposure to such beliefs.2 Specifically, I am interested in

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investigating how black racial identity is affected by inculcation in a context (the place where the inculcation occurs) where either a pigmentocracy or the rule of hypodescent has been institutionalized. A number of scholars have found that the social structure in the Dominican Republic can be characterized as representing a pigmentocracy rooted in a racial hierarchy (Howard, 2001; Sagas, 2001; Sawyer et al., 2004). In particular, the racial structure is characterized by a pigmentocracy that uses skin color codes including (translated to English), white, coffee, chocolate, cinnamon, wheat, brown, and indigenous/Indian with indigenous having its own further skin color gradations (Howard, 2001). The history of the institutionalization of a pigmentocracy in the Dominican Republic cannot be understood without understanding the general disdain many Dominicans, particularly elites, have for Haiti and Haitians as well as the nationalization of an anti-black identity during the reign of former dictator president Rafael Trujillo. Trujillos disdain for Haitians lead to a increased social revolution against black identity in culture as well as an overall institutionalization of anti-blackness in Dominican society. Under his administration, there was a strategic blanqueamiento (whitening) of the nation with the racial category negro became synonymous with Haitian (Duany, 1998; Howard, 2001). Dominicans were admonished in school, work, and other social settings, if they referred to themselves as black. In social circles, to call someone negro was the ultimate insult. Lighter skin was favored to darker skin and straight hair to kinky hair. With the denigration of blackness solidly entrenched in Dominican culture, Trujillo further relegated blackness to lower-class status by initiating a campaign to legally classify all Dominicans as indio (Duany, 1998; Howard, 2001; Roberts, 1997). As opposed to negro or mestizo, indio was a term used to mean a person of brown skin color. The classification of Dominicans as indio instead of negro is still used today (Duany, 1998; Howard, 2001). To corroborate this contention, one need only ask a Dominican to see their identification card. A profound statement by Torres-Saillant, characterizes the conventional view of race in the Dominican Republic:
Blacks and mulattos make up nearly 90 percent of the contemporary Dominican population. Yet, no other country in the [western] hemisphere exhibits greater indeterminacy regarding the populations sense of racial identity. To the bewilderment of outside observers, AfroDominicans have traditionally failed to flaunt their blackness as a collective banner to advance economic, cultural, or political causes. Some commentators would contend, in effect, that Dominicans have, for the most part, denied their blackness. (Torres-Saillant, 1998)

The process of inculcation in the pigmentocracy context in the Dominican Republic involves exposure to and instruction in the countrys pigmentocracy at an early age. Public schools in the Dominican Republic use social science textbooks that teach students that an implicit racial hierarchy exists in Dominican society (Wiggington, 2005). Caricatures are used to teach Dominican youth that their race is a mixture of indigenous (Taino), Spanish, and black African bloodlines (Howard, 2001; Wiggington, 2005). Students are also taught that in addition to the white, black, and indigenous populations, race mixing in the Dominican Republic has created additional racial categories. In particular, young Dominicans are taught that race mixing between indigenous and white bloodlines produces mestizo, and black and white race mixing yields mulatto (Wiggington, 2005). Some textbooks used in the public schools of the Dominican Republic also teach that mixture of black and indigenous produces zambo. Wiggington finds that these textbooks teach students the basic elements of the countrys racial hierarchy in particular that blackness represents a less desirable social status and whiteness is the most desirable

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social status. Wiggington also finds that Dominicans are taught that blackness can be prevented through generational whitening of the race and blackness is characterized by negative and exaggerated stereotypes (Wiggington, 2005). In addition to being exposed to the Dominican Republics racial hierarchy through formal educational constructs, Dominicans are further inculcated by social networks as well as political rhetoric rooted in racist attitudes towards Haitians and blackness. For example, former Dominican president Joaquin Balaguer once campaigned on a platform that his competitor, Pena Gomez, although Dominican, was of Haitian ancestry. As discussed earlier, in the Dominican Republic, Haitian symbolizes black African heritage a status that is least desired. Balaguer, on the other hand, presented himself as the more white candidate, and thus closer to the most desired status. Also discussed earlier was the effort of Rafael Leo nidas Trujillo, the former Dominican dictator president, who attempted to whiten Dominican society by nationalizing the Dominican race as indio and marginalizing blackness. These historical accounts are familiar to most Dominicans, young and old, due to their being passed on through social networks. During the administration of this study, I found the participants willing and enthusiastic to engage in dialogue with their fellow countrymen concerning historical accounts of race relations between Dominicans, Haitians, and the propaganda used by politicos (politicians). Perhaps the most interesting accounts were those of the advice once given by Trujillo to pregnant Dominican mothers to take Milk of Magnesia during the term of their pregnancy in an effort to lighten the skin color of future Dominicans. Inculcation in the rule of hypodescent context Scholarly literature has argued that at the turn of the twentieth century, a fervent movement began in the United States South to institutionalize the rule of hypodescent (Nobles, 2000). This rule forced anyone with as little as a drop of black blood to be categorized as black (Malcomson, 2000; Myrdal, 1944; Franklin and Moss, 2000; Davis, 2001). Nobles found that Southern states adopted statutes that began to define the Negro category more broadly to espouse the one-drop rule (Nobles, 2000). For example, in 1910, the state of Virginia switched its legal definition of Negro and colored person (which were synonymous) from one-fourth or more Negro blood to one-sixteenth Negro blood (Nobles, 2000). By 1930, a person with any ascertainable quantum of Negro blood made that person a Negro in Virginia (Nobles, 2000). A similar pattern took place in Georgia during the 1920s and 1930s. Likewise, the state of Mississippi adopted the rule of hypodescent in 1917. In Mississippi, subscription to the rule of hypodescent went even further than legal definitions; it was also institutionalized via de facto rules many of which were in turn incorporated into legal rules. This is evidenced by the states Supreme Court decision in the case of Moreau et al. v. Grandich et ux. In this case, the states highest court denied relief to defendants whose children had been expelled from a public school based upon a determination they were colored. The children were found to be colored because their great-aunts had been rumored to have married blacks; therefore, the children were assumed to have some black heritage (Sweet, 2005). Even the state of Louisiana, which has a well-documented history of racial intermarriage and mixing, statutorily espoused the one-drop rule defining a Negro as anyone with a trace of black ancestry (Davis, 2001). In states where the rule of hypodescent was institutionalized, its enforcement was done via de jure and de facto discrimination, and quite often through extra-legal mechanisms such as fear and terror. By 1930, even the US Census Bureau had adopted the one-drop rule of

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non-white racial membership as the law of the land, and by the mid-1960s, 41 states had adopted anti-miscegenation laws aimed at maintaining the purity of the white bloodline and segregation of the races (Nobles, 2000). The rule of hypodescent permeated Southern culture for several decades and, in some instances, was not legally overturned until the late 1960s and early 1970s. African Americans and Caucasians in the US South were taught the structure of the regions binary racial structure through a number of sources one of those being social networks (Goldfield, 1990). Primarily, Southerners were taught that there existed just two races, one black and one white (Goldfield, 1990). Numerous scholars have found that Southern children learned these lessons early in life (see Davis, 2001; Goldfield, 1990). According to Goldfield, citing Ferrol Sams, the Southern white child (Sams even admits he was no exception) was subliminally convinced of his superiority by the time of being four or five years old (Goldfield, 1990). Goldfield argues that whites tried to eradicate the black completely from public discourse and life particularly in schools (Goldfield, 1990). Pointing to the effect social networks have had on inculcating African American Southerners in the rule of hypodescent, former Mayor of Vicksburg, Mississippi had this to say: In this area (Mississippi), people are either this or that. I dont see why people get off on this multiracial thing. Thats a bunch of junk (Schmitt, 2001). According to Davis, Southerners also learned that whites were superior to blacks through customs, laws, and beliefs. Davis argues that such inculcation was necessary to maintain the sanctity of the white female as well as the superior status of the white bloodline which was threatened by the race mixing that often occurred between white males and black females (Davis, 2001). One such custom that Davis points to is a racial etiquette in the South that was tacitly accepted and understood (Davis, 2001). This racial etiquette was rooted in white assertion of superiority and blacks understanding to stay in their place (Davis, 2001). This racial etiquette fashioned a sort of culture of racial identity in the US South (for more exploration of culture and identity, see Hall and du Gay (1996)). From the legal standpoint, extensive discussion was provided above relative to how Southern states passed laws that defined as Negro anyone with as little as one-drop of black blood (Nobles, 2000). These rules were to be accepted and not challenged for fear of serious repercussions. Also, a line of literature that emerged during the Black Renaissance in the United States also helped give African Americans exposure to the Souths racial structure by acknowledging the one-drop rule (Davis, 2001). Many of the Black Renaissance writers were of mixed-racial heritage and sought to emphasize their legitimacy as being black in response to critics who claimed they were trying to pass for white (Davis, 2001). This literature was influential in the African American community as part of a movement of Black Nationalism. In addition to being exposed to the Souths one-drop rule through social networks, customs, legal rules, and beliefs, Southerners were further inculcated by historical political rhetoric rooted in racist attitudes towards blacks. For example, political leaders, such as Ross Barnett and Theodore Bilbo, both former governors of the state of Mississippi, used the office of the executive as a bully pulpit to publicly argue of the inferiority of the Negro race (see Bilbo, 1947). Bilbo felt that even a small amount of black blood, if introduced to the white bloodline, corrupted the white race. Bilbo argued that
the white race has never survived continued contact with the Negro race over a long period of time. This is just as true as the fact that when the white blood has been altered by an infusion of Negro blood, civilization and culture have decayed. (Bilbo, 1947)

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At the heart of such political rhetoric was a general desire to maintain segregation of the races in the South. Also, white Southern leaders also realized that it would be difficult to operate a system of race-based social oppression (e.g., slavery, Jim Crow) if a system (such as a pigmentocracy) were adopted that legitimized fluid racial identity based upon skincolor gradations. Thus, to facilitate a more manageable separation of the races, the rule of hypodescent was institutionalized. This is characterized in the following argument made by Bilbo:
In the South where the Negroes live in such large numbers, the color line was rigidly established and has been just as rigidly maintained. As practically applied, the color line classifies as white only those who are of pure white blood and classifies as Negroes all those of pure Negro blood and of Negro and white blood mixed. With this line tightly drawn, the separate races then live under the policy of racial segregation. (Bilbo, 1947)

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Measurements of black racial identity Belief in a common racial heritage In this paper, black racial identity is defined as the degree of a persons sense of a group or collective identity with people of black African heritage based on ones perception that he or she shares a common racial heritage with other people of black African ancestry (Helms, 1990). An individual that believes he or she shares a common racial heritage with other people of black African ancestry can be said to have, at minimum, some degree of identification with the black African race. In this investigation, respondents inculcated in the pigmentocracy context are expected to express a weaker perception of sharing a common racial heritage with other people of black African ancestry than those inculcated in the rule of hypodescent context. The following statements were presented to respondents in order to capture each respondents feelings about his or her sharing a common racial heritage with other people of black African ancestry: 1. I consider myself black. 2. I consider myself African American1/Afro-Latino2. (1asked of Mississippi respondents only; 2asked of Dominican Republic respondents only) 3. I consider myself, at the least, to have some black African heritage. 4. I consider myself to be of mostly black African heritage. 5. I consider my black African heritage to be the most important part of my racial heritage. 6. I consider myself to be of a mixed racial heritage rather than just a black African heritage. For each statement, an attitudinal temperature scale was used that afforded respondents the opportunity to select the following degrees of responses: Strongly disagree, Disagree, No opinion, Agree, and Strongly agree. Each respondent was asked to select the response that best characterized their sentiment towards each statement. Respondents sense of group identification with blackness was captured through comparison of responses to questions of corresponding themes (see the discussion below). For the Dominican Republic study sites, I expect to find respondents to be more in agreement with statement two as compared with statement one. This is given statement twos inclusion of Latino as opposed to statement ones usage of only black. Likewise, I expect to find respondents in the Dominican Republic study sites to be more in agreement with statement six as compared with statement five. This is given statement sixs notion of a

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mixed racial heritage versus statement fives strong articulation of the primacy of identifying with ones black African racial heritage. On the contrary, in the Mississippi study sites, I expect to find respondents to be more in disagreement with statement six as compared with statement five. In addition, I expect to find respondents in the Mississippi study sites to indicate no difference in identity between questions one and two indicating a belief that the terms black and African American are relatively synonymous (characteristic of subscription to the rule of hypodescent). For statements three and four, I expect to find respondents in the Dominican Republic study sites to be more in agreement with statement three as compared with statement four. On the contrary, for the Mississippi study sites, I expect to find respondents to be more in agreement with statement four as compared with three. This is given statement fours articulation of a belief of one having a primarily black African heritage versus statement threes pronouncement of a belief of simply having, at the least, some amount of black African heritage. Black solidarity Black racial identity can also be thought of as the degree of a persons sense of a group or collective identity with people of black African heritage based on ones individual perception that he shares a common experience of racial injustice (as opposed to racial heritage) with other people of black African heritage. This is commonly referred to as black solidarity (see Shelby, 2005). An individual that believes he or she shares a common experience of racial injustice with other people of black African ancestry can be said to, at minimum, identify with the black African race. Respondents inculcated in the pigmentocracy context are expected to express a weaker perception of sharing a common experience of racial injustice with other people of black African ancestry than those inculcated in the rule of hypodescent context. Using black solidarity as a measure of black identity, three statements were drafted. The following statements, using the same attitudinal temperature scale of responses, were presented to in an effort to measure black solidarity: 7. All people of black African heritage share a common identity no matter where in the world they live. 8. People of black African heritage experience more discrimination than do people of other races no matter where in the world they live. 9. A persons economic status has more affect on his/her ability to get ahead in life than does his/her racial background. For the Dominican Republic study sites, I expect to find respondents to have a weaker sense of black solidarity with other people of black African ancestry than Mississippi respondents. In light of the statements, I expect respondents in the Dominican Republic to be more in agreement with statement nine than statements seven and eight. For the Mississippi study sites, however, I expect to find respondents to be more in agreement with statements seven and eight than statement nine. This is given statement seven and eights articulation of a subscription to a belief in black solidarity due to sharing a common experience of injustice based on ones racial background versus statement nines notion of a belief that factors, other than racial background, affect ones social experiences in his or her life. Results The first substantive inquiry concerns whether or not there was any evidence that individuals inculcated in the pigmentocracy context (the Dominican Republic study sites)

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demonstrated any identification with blackness and if so, to what degree. It was hypothesized that individuals inculcated in the pigmentocracy context would have a lesser degree of black racial identity than those inculcated in the rule of hypodescent context. For purposes of analysis, the categories of Strongly disagree and Disagree were combined into a single category of Disagree to capture the general degree of respondents disagreement. For statements where a significant number of respondents Strongly disagreed, special mention is made of these results. The same was done for the categories of Strongly agree and Agree. Overall, respondents in the Dominican Republic study sites, across all incomes and educational backgrounds, showed a moderate degree of identification with blackness. Income and educational background had no discernable effect on the results. The data (see Table 1) show that slightly less than half of the respondents (n 101) agreed (45) with statement one that they considered themselves to be black while nearly the same number disagreed (41). Analysis of responses to statement two demonstrates the dominant racial identity espoused by respondents in the Dominican Republic study sites. Most respondents agreed (65) more with an identity that denoted something whiter (Afro-Latino) as opposed to just black. Likewise, responses to statements three and four point to a similar finding. The responses to statement three reveal that the vast majority of respondents agreed (72) that they had some black African heritage. However, when compared with statement four, respondents overwhelmingly disagreed (80) with the assertion that respondents considered themselves to be mostly of black African heritage. Respondents in the Dominican Republic were in agreement (69) with statement six, which averred identification with a mixed racial heritage rather than just a black African heritage. That was as opposed to statement fives assertion of a belief that ones black African racial heritage is of paramount importance to which the vast majority of Dominican Republic respondents disagreed (70). Using black solidarity as a measure of black identity, I expected to find respondents in the Dominican Republic study sites to demonstrate weak identification with statements denoting a belief in a shared experience of racial injustice with other people of black African ancestry. The responses reveal that respondents actually held a strong belief in black solidarity with others of black African ancestry with 68 in agreement that all people of black African heritage share a common identity no matter where in the world they live (statement seven), and 85 in agreement that people of black African heritage experience more discrimination than do people other races no matter where in the world they live (statement eight). However, this finding could be mitigated by the fact that the respondents in the Dominican Republic study sites did not consider the statement from the vantage point that they themselves were black, but rather, from the stance that blacks is a term more appropriately reserved for reference to Haitians. If so, this would have skewed their opinions to be based upon assessing racial discrimination and injustice from the viewpoint of the experiences of Haitians not Dominicans. Respondents in the Dominican Republic study sites also demonstrated a strong belief in factors, other than racial heritage, that can affect an individuals ability to get ahead in life. The vast majority of respondents agreed (72) with statement nines articulation of a belief that a persons economic status has more affect on ones ability to get ahead in life than does ones racial background. This finding demonstrates that respondents in the Dominican Republic held, at minimum, some belief that there are factors that could mitigate the impact of ones racial heritage in determining ones social experiences in life a dogma discussed in more detail to follow below. On an interesting note, in the Dominican Republic study sites, the majority of respondents subscribed to a belief in a pigmentocracy; however, they also felt that they did

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not truly know their racial identity or skin color. This finding is consistent with what was predicted regarding inculcation into the pigmentocracy context. When respondents were asked to ascribe a single skin phenotype category upon themselves, respondents of strikingly similar skin phenotypes provided disparate responses. Likewise, when asked to ascribe a skin phenotype upon the researcher (myself), respondents provided categories across the board with no single category predominating their responses. The only consistent response among respondents was that neither they nor I was negro or blanco (white). This finding demonstrates that the fluidity in racial identities in the pigmentocracy context allowed respondents to feel they could move away from blackness towards a whiter definition. The second substantive inquiry concerns whether or not there was any evidence that individuals inculcated in the rule of the hypodescent context (the Mississippi study sites) demonstrated any identification with blackness and if so, to what degree. It was hypothesized that individuals inculcated in the rule of hypodescent context would have a stronger degree of black racial identity than those inculcated in the pigmentocracy context. Overall, respondents in the Mississippi study sites, across all incomes and educational backgrounds, showed strong identification with blackness. Educational background and income had no discernable effect on the findings. The results (see Table 1) show that the vast majority of the Mississippi respondents (n 102) agreed (83) with statement one that they considered themselves to be black. Of this number, 71 strongly agreed. This is in stark contrast to the Dominican Republic study sites where less than half of the respondents identified themselves as being black. Responses to statement two indicate that respondents in the Mississippi study sites agreed (87) with an identity that viewed African American and black as being relatively the same identity. Of this number, 66 strongly agreed. This finding is in line with my expectation about the impact of being inculcated in the rule of hypodescent context. Responses to statements three and four also corroborated a finding that respondents in the Mississippi study sites had a stronger identification with blackness than their counterparts in the Dominican Republic study sites. The responses to statement three reveal that the vast majority of Mississippi respondents agreed (92) that they had some black African heritage. Of this number, 67 strongly agreed. Marginally fewer respondents agreed (71) with statement fours assertion that respondents considered themselves to be mostly of black African heritage. However, in comparison to the Dominican Republic study sites, where only a mere 11 respondents agreed with this statement, respondents in the Mississippi study sites clearly espoused a much stronger belief in assigning to themselves the identity of the so called subordinate racial bloodline demonstrating subscription to the rule of hypodescent. I expected to find that respondents in the Mississippi study sites would be more in agreement with statement five, which asserted belief that ones black African racial heritage is of paramount importance, as compared with statement six, which indicated a belief in a mixed racial heritage rather than just a black African heritage. Surprisingly, the numbers were almost identical with 46 in agreement with statement five and 45 in agreement with statement six. A large number of respondents in the Mississippi study sites held no opinion to statements five and six (39 and 34 respectively). This finding could indicate that African Americans in the US South may have historically espoused a subscription to the one-drop rule out of social custom and not necessarily informed and educated opinion, or, perhaps the respondents held a degree of resentment towards their mixed-racial heritage and as a result made a conscious, informed choice to self-identify as being black. It could also be

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Table 1. Responses by context, all incomes and education.* Agree 1. I consider myself to be black Dominican Republic 45 Mississippi 83 Disagree 41 9 No opinion 12 10 No response 3 0 5 0 3 1 2 2

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Totals n 101 n 102

2. I consider myself to be Afro-Latino1/African-American2 Dominican Republic1 65 19 12 Mississippi2 87 6 9 3. I consider myself, at least, to have some black African heritage Dominican Republic 71 11 16 Mississippi 92 1 8 4. I consider myself to be of mostly black African heritage Dominican Republic 12 79 8 Mississippi 71 12 17

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5. I consider my black African heritage to be the most important part of my racial heritage Dominican Republic 18 71 12 0 Mississippi 47 16 39 0 6. I consider myself to be of a mixed racial heritage rather than just a black African heritage Dominican Republic 71 25 5 0 Mississippi 44 22 35 1 7. All people of black African heritage share a common identity no matter where in the world they live Dominican Republic 70 20 10 1 Mississippi 60 19 23 0 8. People of black African heritage experience more discrimination than do people of other races no matter where in the world they live Dominican Republic 82 15 4 0 Mississippi 61 20 21 0 9. A persons economic status has more affect on his/her ability to get ahead in life than does his/her racial background Dominican Republic 72 17 11 1 Mississippi 64 17 21 0
*Income includes the following categories: Lower, Middle-Lower, Middle, High and No Response. Education includes the following categories: 08, 912, High School, Beyond High School, and No Response.

conditioned by African Americans having become more aware of people of African descent and their experiences outside of the United States. Using black solidarity as a measure of black identity, I expected to find respondents in the Mississippi study sites to demonstrate strong identification with statements connoting a belief in a shared experience of racial injustice with other people of black African ancestry. Surprisingly, the responses reveal that respondents in the Mississippi study sites held a weaker belief in black solidarity with others of black African ancestry than respondents in the Dominican Republic. Again, the question of who is black is relevant to comparing the responses by respondents in the Dominican Republic vs. Mississippi study sites. Here, I suspect that Mississippi respondents include themselves in the category of black whereas Dominican respondents were likely thinking of Haitians. With regards to

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the statements measuring black solidarity, Mississippi respondents were in agreement with statement seven (60) and with statement eight (61). As a matter of fact, more Mississippi respondents disagreed with statement eight (20) than did respondents in the Dominican Republic (14). These findings were not in line with my expectations about inculcation in the rule of hypodescent context. Similar to the responses yielded in the Dominican Republic study sites, respondents in the Mississippi study sites also demonstrated a strong belief in factors, other than racial heritage, that affect an individuals ability to get ahead in life. The majority of respondents agreed (64) with statement nines articulation of a belief that a persons economic status has more affect on ones ability to get ahead in life than does ones racial background. This finding tends to suggest that respondents in the Mississippi study sites, as with the Dominican Republic, viewed economic background as a factor that perhaps has more effect on an individuals ability to get ahead in life than does racial discrimination and injustice. One respondent in the Dominican Republic site elucidated this belief by saying, when I pull out my wallet, you see that it is black. But, my money is brown. Nobody cares about your money being brown. They just care if you have money [respondents comments]. Given that the respondents in both study sites were of generally moderate to lower incomes, it can be understood that these individuals felt that their socio-economic status was more of a hindrance on their ability to get ahead in life than their skin color particularly if these individuals knew others of black African heritage who had gotten ahead in life, so to speak (see Dawson (1994) for more discussion of how economic status tends to mitigate a sense of shared black identity). An interesting question, however, is how high the socio-economic ceiling would have to be for these respondents before they felt skin color was more of a mitigating factor than income. Conclusion The reality that the results of this study are not drawn from broader contextual samples only allows for the drawing of tentative conclusions. Also, the unique characteristics of the racial terrain of each study site could further complicate generalization. Nevertheless, the findings represent specific observable patterns from which a number of important inferences can be made. Consistent with the basic assumptions of my hypothesis regarding inculcation in the pigmentocracy context, respondents in the Dominican Republic study sites, across all incomes and educational backgrounds, showed a weaker degree of identification with blackness vis-a ` -vis something whiter. Nevertheless, respondents in the Dominican Republic sites demonstrated a stronger identification with blackness that what most conventional observers would have anticipated. As Torres-Saillant has pointed out, some commentators would contend, in effect, that Dominicans have, for the most part, denied their blackness (Torres-Saillant, 1998). In this study, I did not find that Dominicans largely denied their blackness; rather, their identification with blackness was tempered by a belief in being of mixed-racial heritage. Respondents in the Dominican Republic study sites ascribed to a belief in a pigmentocracy; however, they also demonstrated a lack of consensus as to the defining characteristics of the various skin color gradations. When asked to ascribe a single skin phenotype category upon themselves, respondents of seemingly similar skin phenotypes provided disparate responses. Likewise, when asked to ascribe a skin phenotype upon the researcher (myself), respondents provided categories across the board with no single category predominating their responses. The only

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consistent response among respondents was that neither they nor I was negro or blanco (white). Consistent with the basic assumptions of my hypothesis regarding inculcation in the rule of hypodescent context, respondents in the Mississippi study sites, across all incomes and educational backgrounds, showed a strong sense of identification with blackness. Surprisingly, however, Mississippi respondents demonstrated a larger degree of neutrality than expected in their sentiments regarding their belief in being of a mixed racial heritage rather than just a black African heritage. I expected to find that respondents inculcated in the rule of hypodescent context would largely agree that their racial heritage was primarily just a black African heritage. However, a large number of respondents did not respond as such. This finding was said to possibly be indicative that African Americans in the US South have historically espoused a subscription to the one-drop rule out of custom and not necessarily informed and educated opinion, or, perhaps the respondents held a degree of resentment towards their mixed-racial heritage and as a result made a conscious, informed choice to self-identify as being black. The use of black solidarity as a measure of black identity also produced results inconsistent with my expectations. I hypothesized that individuals inculcated in the pigmentocracy context would express a weaker perception of sharing a common belief in a shared experience of racial injustice with other people of black African ancestry than those inculcated in the rule of hypodescent context. Surprisingly, respondents in the Dominican Republic study sites demonstrated a stronger belief in black solidarity with others of black African ancestry than respondents in the Mississippi study sites. However, this finding could be affected by whether respondents in the Dominican Republic study sites considered themselves as being black when contemplating the statement. It could have been the case that respondents in the Dominican Republic study sites thought of the statement from the view of Haitians as being black and not themselves which would have led them to think about the pervasive racial discrimination and injustice experienced by Haitians in the Dominican Republic. I argue that the Mississippi respondents, on the other hand, likely thought of the statement from a vantage that included themselves as being black. Support for this argument comes from the high number of Mississippi respondents who considered themselves to be black (83) versus the relatively low number of respondents in the Dominican Republic who thought of themselves as being black (41). This studys relevancy comes from its ability to demonstrate how utilizing black racial identity as a source of coalition building and pan-diasporic solidarity between African Americans and Afro-Latinos is potentially limited in due to individual inculcation in unique racial contexts. In addition, the findings demonstrate how, despite sharing a common black African racial lineage, institutions can cause people of black African ancestry to espouse disparate understandings of their black racial identity. Political leaders hoping to use black identity as a source of solidarity between African Americans and AfroLatinos, and perhaps other black African ancestral communities, face the challenge of institutionalizing a definition of blackness that can unite instead of divide these groups. In future research, investigation of the effects of transnationalistic inculcation on black racial identity must be done. Transnationalistic inculcation is a process that is experienced by migrants when they move to a new country from their home country yet maintain social and cultural ties across the two disparate geopolitical borders (see Schiller, Basch, and Szanton-Blanc (1992) for a discussion of transnationalism). With regards to Afro-Latinos in the United States, this is quite often the reality. As Torres-Saillant notes, Dominicans in the United States are challenged to submit to the logic of North American racial polarities, to internalize extraneous paradigms of identity and in doing so,

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disregard the complexity of their own national experience as regards interracial relations (Torres-Saillant, 1998). In addition, Torres-Saillant has found that Dominican youth who are reared in the United States are likely to espouse racial classifications created by their environment. Evidence from the past two censuses demonstrates that the longer Dominican youngsters have resided in the United States, the greater the likelihood that they will classify themselves as black (Torres-Saillant, 1998). Afro-Latinos in the United States present perhaps the largest opportunity, yet struggle, for building a cohesive coalition with African Americans. The question, however, is who will set the agenda political institutions attempt to forward with regards to defining black racial identity across these two groups in the United States?

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Notes
1. Pigmentocracy, as used here, refers to a social hierarchy of race based on skin color gradations. 2. Inculcation can also be thought of as socialization.

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