Challenges narrow perceptions of Blackness as both an identity and lived reality to understand
the diversity of what it means to be Black in the US and around the world What exactly is
Blackness and what does it mean to be Black? Is Blackness a matter of biology or consciousness?
Who determines who is Black and who is not? Who s Black who s not and who cares? In the
United States a Black person has come to be defined as any person with any known Black
ancestry. Statutorily referred to as the rule of hypodescent this definition of Blackness is
more popularly known as the one-drop rule meaning that a person with any trace of Black
ancestry however small or (in)visible cannot be considered White. A method of social order
that began almost immediately after the arrival of enslaved Africans in America by 1910 it was
the law in almost all southern states. At a time when the one-drop rule functioned to protect
and preserve White racial purity Blackness was both a matter of biology and the law. One was
either Black or White. Period. Has the social and political landscape changed one hundred years
later? One Drop explores the extent to which historical definitions of race continue to shape
contemporary racial identities and lived experiences of racial difference. Featuring the
perspectives of 60 contributors representing 25 countries and combining candid narratives with
striking portraiture this book provides living testimony to the diversity of Blackness.
Although contributors use varying terms to self-identify they all see themselves as part of
the larger racial cultural and social group generally referred to as Black. They have all had
their identity called into question simply because they do not fit neatly into the
stereotypical Black box dark skin kinky hair broad nose full lips etc. Most have been asked
What are you? or the more politically correct Where are you from? throughout their lives. It is
through contributors lived experiences with and lived imaginings of Black identity that we can
visualize multiple possibilities for Blackness.
