Ethnic Identity By: Khansau Amadu

Why Ethnic Identity? Ethnic identity is one of the biggest forms of an identity crisis. They usually stem from a person trying to run away from stereotypes of their ethnic group. Reading books that contain the theme of ethnic identity can help to teach students the importance of not stereotyping other people.

The Skin I’m In Thirteen-year old Maleeka Madison is tall, skinny, and dark-skinned.  That's a problem for her, because it's such a problem for everyone else at school, it seems.  To make her life easier, Maleeka befriends the toughest girl in school.  Only bullies force you to pay more than you’d like, so life for Maleeka just gets harder, until she learns to stand up for herself and love the skin she's in.

Call me Maria Fifteen year old Maria is a young Puerto Rican- American girl caught in-between two worlds, the barrio of New York City and the island of Puerto Rico. When her dad decides to move back to the states, Maria decides to go with her dad, leaving her mother behind on the island. Written in a poetic style, Maria talks about struggles with fitting in, losing her island accent and juggling the unfamiliar barrio culture. In the end Maria is able to find herself and fuse both cultures.

Ten Things I hate about Me Jamilah is a Lebanese-Australian girl who just wants to fit in. She doesn’t want to be stereotyped as a terrorist so she does everything possible to hide that part of herself. She dyes her hair blonde, anglicizes her name, wears blue contacts, doesn’t say anything when she hears racist jokes and does everything possible to not mention her home life to anyone at school. When the cutest boy in school asks her out and her friends start to wonder about Jamie’s life outside of school, suddenly her secrets are threatened.

American Born Chinese American Born Chinese is a graphic novel which includes three stories that are woven together to represent the complexity of having multiple identities. The first story is about Jin Wang, a Chinese-American boy who just wants to be an All-American boy and fit in. The second is about Danny who is embarrassed of his Chinese cousin Chin-kee who represents every negative Asian stereotype and the third is about Monkey king, a monkey who doesn’t like being a monkey. All together these stories are a representation of what happens when someone isn’t happy with their identity and the troubles that come with trying to fitting in.

Sandra Laing: A Spiritual Journey (Documentary) Sandra Laing is a darker skinned girl born to two white parents during the apartheid era in South Africa. Her parents raise her as a white girl but when she gets to school, she is kicked out of school because of her race. There is a lot of controversy and when a blood test determines that Sandra is indeed the child of her parents, she is reclassified as white. But this reclassification as white doesn’t bring much joy because Sandra isn’t accepted in the white community. Due to this, she rebels against her parents and runs away with a black man. She is disowned by her parents and spends the rest of her life trying to reunite with her parents and other family members. Movie based on this story: Skin

Imitation of Life(Film) There are two versions of this movie. The 1930s version with Claudette Colbert and the 1950s version with Lana Turner. Based on the Fannie Hurst novel which has the same title. In both movies, two single mothers come together to raise their two daughters and experience the struggles that comes with raising two teenage girls. One mother is a black woman who has a daughter that is light enough to pass as white. Throughout the movie, the daughter struggles with her identity and eventually runs away to pass into the white world. While she is away, her mother falls sick and dies which causes the daughter to reexamine her life.

Songs about Ethnic Identity “Half Breed” by Cher “Say it loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)” by James Brown “White America” Eminem