The Mixed Heritage Center is LIVE! (ok so this post is a few weeks late, but I was busy at work)

The welcome reads as follows:

The Mixed Heritage Center (MHC) is a clearinghouse of information relevant to the lives of people who are multiracial, multiethnic, transracially adopted or otherwise affected by the intersection of race and culture. It is the product of collaboration between the Association of MultiEthnic Americans and the MAVIN Foundation. Funding was provided by the K and F Baxter Family Foundation.

The MHC is an “organic” resource that will grow and change with contributions from visitors, student groups, and community based organizations who care about mixed heritage issues. Please share your own knowledge and experiences either through participation in the discussion forums, by recommending the addition of a resource, or by submitting your own work to content@mixedheritagecenter.org .

- Mixed Heritage Center (MHC) Home Page

A long time ago I had contacted the people at Mavin who were in charge of the old MHC. I was told that it was being rebuilt and I even got the opportunity to help out a bit (although I didn’t end up doing too much because I got busy with other stuff). Anyway, just knowing what was coming was exciting and now its live and I get to spread the word about the site. So now is the part where I tell about the good stuff.

Resources – The Mavin Foundation and AMEA (Association of MultiEthnic Americans) are two of the best known national mixed heritage organizations. The Mixed Heritage Center has been built as a place to bring together their combined resources as well as begin to build a greater library. The idea is that not only will the site link to information already in their combined libraries, but that people who visit the site or join as users will also be able to submit resources that will then be posted. With mixed heritage being a topic of study that is still fairly new the number of documents out there are still in many far off places. The MHC with the help of the mixed community will begin to grow those resources and bring together those existing resources from their far off places. Additionally, by allowing users to submit inks to resources it is easier to keep information up to date and make sure that it is relevant to a rapidly changing population.

Scope – Whereas my site has a more constrained focus, the MHC has links to all sorts of resources. And with new content being added regularly the scope and depth of what they have is sure to increase. When those who are interested in this field are able to see what research already exists I would think that it makes it more possible to know what has been addressed and what issues still need to be addressed.
One of the things I really am excited about is that they are including the arts (movies, music, visual arts, literature) as resources. I know for a fact (because I am an artist) that for some there are things that can only be expressed through art, and to have the ability to see that from others is going to be very powerful.

Community – The new MHC has been built with creating and supporting an online community in mind. Users can register for an account which will allow them greater access to the site as well as more opportunities to communicate with each other and create community.

I am very excited about this site. It was built with intellectual growth and community in mind which in my opinion are both very important when it comes to a population that is so diverse and so new (in terms of its visibility and acceptence). I look forward to exploring the site and discovering new and important information as well as contributing to the community.

This site is great for everyone as it has resources that touch on many different topics.

“An international association organizations dedicated to advocacy, education and collaboration on behalf the multiethnic, multiracial and transracial adoption community.”

AMEA is a wonderful national organization that works to educate people about the issues that affect the mixed heritage/ethnicity population. They are well know for their activism in the areas of mixed heritage eductional issues, health issues and policy issues pertaining to the collection of useful and appropriate demographic data by the federal government.
While I have not personally had experience working with this group, I do know that they commonly work with many other national organizations such as MAVIN as well as with other organizations on a more local level.
AMEA (this link opens a new page) This link can also be found on the Web Resources Page.

I liked this book for several reasons. The first reason, was that Elliot’s style for this book was a combination of personal accounts of experiences with race combined with theory and research. For me this made the book accessible to people who may not be that well versed in theories of mixed-race identity. For those who deal with theory and research more regularly, I think the way he presented the materials not only gave it an academic credibility, but also added a human dimension which is so important to this kind of research.

The second reason I liked this book is that even though he is mixed black/white and talks about his own experiences and some of the issues specific to that population, he is able to stop and say, while this is my experience, the experience of other individuals who are mixes of different heritages may have other experiences. This is important to do so that people who are reading this material understand that the mixed heritage population is not all the same. Another thing that he does in relation to shedding light on the variety of experiences, is to point out that mixed people of different generations have had very different experiences.

One section in particular (Part 3- Backdrop of History) did a great job of talking about the history of the black/white mix in America, some of the issues of power and the changes in construction of race, and most importantly discussed the One Drop Rule. This is something that I think more people need to know about as it is something that has affected us all whether we know it or not.

I would recommend this book to all audiences as I think that everyone could get something from this book.

A couple of the key issues talked about include, issues of colorism that are found in the African American community (ie being light skinned vs dark skinned) and how that came into play when she was in fact mixed black/white. The differences of experiences growing up between her and her brother. The differences she talked about were both the the ways in which siblings may have a difference of experience in general just because they are look different or have different life experiences with regards to race, and then also talked about how gender came into play with the experience of being mixed race. And how parents choose to deal with the questions their children bring home. Some parents have a great understanding of what their children go through. Other parents don’t see their children as anything different than themselves and thus offer solutions to problems that worked for them.
The sense of humor that she brings to her work, for me, serves to show that mixed race people are not broken by default. We have experiences due to our heritages that others might not understand, and they ways in which we are taught to cope with them, may be difficult, but they may be funny. Its the same as any other aspect of growing up. And for this I thank her. I think that she offers a great portrait of a person who has grown up and had to work through questions of race/ethnicity/gender and so forth, and come to an identity that she is comfortable with on her terms.

Available on Amazon.com

One Box Isn’t Enough