Biracial Discrimination

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate October 2001

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Biracial Discrimination: The Worst of Both Worlds? There has always been discrimination. Biases and negative attitudes toward certain groups of people have protruded in most civilizations throughout history. It is easy to discriminate against a person who is different from ones self. Because of this, there is much confusion when someone is discriminated against because they are of mixed origin or Biracial. It is indeed possible that a person of biracial origin could have a harder time feeling accepted as a part of society, more than a person of singular minority. Throughout history and up until just a few decades ago, it was considered outrageous for a black person and a white person to get married. People would be shunned and even thrown from their families. When looked at from a historical standpoint, this problem has improved a great deal. Biracial people are much more accepted in America today than in the past.

An account from the 1960's describes a researcher visiting the house of a half Native-American, half African-American woman named Hattie. Of course when the information was taken down, such terms as Indian and Negroe were still in use. The woman described was half Cherokee, but living in an all Negroe community, she lost contact with her Indian family. She was called a half-breed and was described as not being a real Indian. Most Native American Tribes can trace back at certain individuals who took African American spouses, and in many cases, these adventurous couples would be abandoned by their families (Berry 164). Reports of intermarrying between Native Americans were the first accounts of such practices in America. But even Thomas Jefferson was known to have had a biracial child. The United States of America has always had biracial babies and people who view them as second...