Tripping on the color line: black-white multiracial families in a racially divided world

presents the results of 47 interviews with members of interracial (black-white) families. . . . is a thoughtful and data-backed analysis for all collections, useful to readers at many levels.-Choice M. Dalmage provides unique insight into the dynamics of multiracialism both academically as a sociologist and personally as a woman in a black-white interracial marriage. As she writes on the first page of her work, 'More than five hundred years' worth of socially, politically, economically and culturally created racial categories rest in the phrase are you?' Dalmage succeeds in capturing her audience with this compelling statement.-Sociology on the Color Line discusses the problems faced by families who are multiracial either through adoption or marriage. It explains many of the concerns faced by people in these types of families. . . . Some of the issues covered are multiracial families and housing, the importance of racially mixed areas for racially mixed families, and when to address racial issues and when just to ignore them. . . . very insightful work.-MultiCultural Review A unique overview of a neglected issue, based on a unique familiarity with the literature on multiculturalism, black liberation, and race relations. Through her strong narrative, Dalmage is able to illuminate for the reader the world of those who are mutiracial and who are involved in multiracial relationships. is a very useful book and will the basis for future policy discussions on race and racialization in the United States.-Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare work focuses on how multi-racial family members deal with the influence their racial identity has on their daily lives. . . . Tripping on the Color Line is a very creative thought-provoking work with a human touch that gives readers a greater awareness of what it is like to be non-white in white America.-Big Muddy: Journal of the Mississippi Valley on the Color Line is one of the most brilliant and provocative books yet written about the politics of multiracial identity. Its profound message deepens our understanding of the complex ways race still colors our lives.-Michael Eric Dyson on the Color Line provides a blueprint for discussions about race in a way no other text I have read has accomplished. Dalmage uses black-white interracial relationships and the experiences of persons of mixed racial heritage to provide accessible, yet sophisticated, explanations of a broad array of racial issues. -Maria P. P. Root, editor of The Multiracial Experience: Racial Borders as the New Frontier This is a book at the borders-of the personal and the political, the lived and the researched, the family and the society. It is a splendid, provocative book. It will open minds, hearts, and discussion. -Barbara Katz Rothman, author of Genetic Maps and Human Imaginations: The Limits of Science in Understanding Who We Are At the beginning of the twentieth century, W.E.B. Du Bois predicted that the central problem facing the United States in the new century would be that of the Now, with another century upon us, many people are found straddling the color line. They come from the growing number of multiracial families in America, families seeking their places in a racially polarized society. In interviews with individuals from black-white multiracial families, Heather M. Dalmage examines the challenges they face and explores how their experiences demonstrate the need for rethinking race in America. Heather M. Dalmage is the director of the Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and an associate professor of sociology at the School of Policy Studies at Roosevelt University, Chicago.