Acting white
Encyclopedia
In the United States
, acting white is a pejorative
term usually applied to African-Americans, which refers to a person's perceived betrayal of their culture by assuming the social expectations of white society
. Success in education
in particular (depending on one's cultural background) can be seen as a form of selling out
by being disloyal to one's culture. The term is controversial, and its precise meaning is hard to define. Nevertheless, the idea that minority students suffer from the negative prejudices of their ethnic peers is currently accepted as generally true in much of the American media—as expressed in articles in The New York Times
, Time magazine, and The Wall Street Journal
—and in American society.
. Black people who are accused of acting white are sometimes referred to as Black Anglo-Saxons, a term coined by comedian Paul Mooney. The 2008 election of Barack Obama
as President of the United States created a public discussion that the acting white attitude may be waning.
Not all scholars define acting white in precisely the same way. However, most definitions include a reference to situations where some minority adolescents ridicule their minority peers for engaging in behaviors perceived to be characteristic of whites. "White behavior" as such is highly correlated with high grades in school, which is the effect that researchers focus on, but the two attributes are distinct.
In 1986, Signithia Fordham co-authored with Nigerian sociologist John Ogbu
a study that concluded that high-performing African American students in a Washington, D.C.
, high school borrowed from hegemonic white culture as part of a strategy for achievement, while struggling to maintain a black identity. Ogbu made a related claim in his 2003 book, Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement, concluding that black students' own cultural attitudes hindered academic achievement and that these attitudes are too often neglected. However, as Ogbu made clear in his seminal work Minority Education and Caste (1978), school disengagement among caste-like minorities occurs because of the glass ceiling
placed by white society on the job-success of their parents and others in their communities. He reasoned that non-whites "failed to observe the link between educational achievement and access to jobs."
Though the study's conclusion gained a popular foothold and has been espoused by figures such as Bill Cosby
in his famous May 2004 speech
, a later study challenged its validity. In 2003, Karolyn Tyson, a sociologist, and William Darity, Jr., an economist, both at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
, directed an 18 month study at eleven North Carolinian schools. The study concluded that white and black students have essentially the same attitudes about scholastic achievement; students in both groups want to succeed in school and show higher levels of self-esteem when they do better in school. They compared attitudes identified as acting white to the normal adolescent pains
experienced in John Hughes' movies.
Academics Philip J. Cook
and Jens Ludwig published a report in 1997 finding that blacks do not face any stronger social pressures for succeeding in school than whites, and that they have no greater feelings of alienation towards education in general either. They noted anecdotal and ethnographic research confirming that minority students hold these views, but they concluded that these are not inherently generalizable and do not substantially affect student behavior in the classroom. They labeled the issue "something of a distraction" from what they saw as more important educational reforms.
Stuart Buck, a lawyer, wrote Acting White: The Ironic Legacy of Desegregation in 2010, published by Yale University Press
. He argued that traditionally segregated
black schools featured teachers, counselors, and others of the same race as the student population of the schools, who in many cases became mentors to the students. However, the integration of schools since the mid- to late-20th century may have caused schools to appear to some black students to be controlled or dominated by whites. Consequently, a black student trying to achieve high educational success may be seen primarily as trying to make him or herself appear superior to others.
A 2006 study titled An Empirical Analysis of "Acting White" by Roland G. Fryer, Jr.
, at Harvard University
and Paul Torelli suggested that the phenomenon probably had little to no effect on students achieving at average levels, but might explain a significant role in the disparities between black and white students at high achievement levels.Roland G. Fryer, Jr. and Paul Torelli. "An Empirical Analysis of 'Acting White'". National Bureau of Economic Research
. Working Paper 11334. Published May 2005. Accessed August 10, 2009. Fryer has also written that, in contrast to Fordham and Ogbu's theory, "acting white" prejudices are actually more common the more integrated
the school, with historically black schools
free of any effects. He found that groups such as Italian immigrants in Boston’s West End and the Maori of New Zealand
display similar behaviors. He concluded, "[t]here is necessarily a trade-off between doing well and rejection by your peers when you come from a traditionally low-achieving group, especially when that group comes into contact with more outsiders."
A fundamental drawback of much of the research so far is that the people studied have been asked to rate their own popularity
in the eyes of others, which naturally brings those scores into question. Roland G. Fryer, Jr. has remarked, "[a]sking teenagers whether they’re popular is like asking them if they’re having sex."
Political observer John McWhorter
has commented, "[t]eenagers have a variety of identities open to them for trying on anti-Establishment postures. White kids can be stoners or goths. Black kids can be 'nonwhite'." He interpreted those kids as black "nerd
s". He stated that the acting white attitude developed as the creation of an "other
" among newly integrated
African-American kids.
In their aforementioned study, Karolyn Tyson and William Darity, Jr., stated that school staff and faculty who hold racist attitudes about the ability of black students use the attitude as a cover for disparities in student performance. Shelby Steele
wrote in The Content of Our Character that what he identified as middle class black values
are falsely viewed by the majority of blacks as "white" while they are actually colorblind. He argued that this attitude is separate from the natural reaction of young blacks in poverty
.
Commentator Steve Sailer
has argued that the theory of acting white is a red herring. He has also argued that innate genetic differences in intelligence between races
are the primary cause of racial differences in school success. He has, however, stated as well that acting white pressures do play some role, particularly with Hispanic-Americans.
New York University School of Law
professor Kenji Yoshino
wrote in his 2006 book Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights
criticizing what he sees as social pressures to conform to mainstream white culture. He stated that this constitutes a violation of African-Americans' civil rights and that they should be able to uphold their own social distinctions. He also stated that they should be able to freely choose to identify with white culture if they wish. Anne Arnett Ferguson, Assistant Professor of Afro-American Studies and Women's Studies at Smith College
, has written that white culture "ruthlessly excludes African American cultural modes as relevant and meaningful". She highlighted the insistence in schools of standard English
over Black Vernacular English as an example.
Clarence Page
remarked on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer in 2004:
Barack Obama
, who is biracial
, has been labeled as "acting white" by Jesse Jackson
and "talking white" by Ralph Nader
.
Obama's presidential victory in the 2008 election
and public image have started a public debate about whether or not the stigma of 'acting white' will go away in the future. Commentators John McWhorter
and Stephen J. Dubner
have stated that it might. Yahanna of the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge
, considered to be a black supremacist organization, did not consider Obama to be black but "African of white descent" and advised African-Americans not to vote for him.
Obama himself vehemently criticized the concept in his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention
, arguing that "children can’t achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.”
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, acting white is a pejorative
Pejorative
Pejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...
term usually applied to African-Americans, which refers to a person's perceived betrayal of their culture by assuming the social expectations of white society
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
. Success in education
Educational attainment in the United States
The educational attainment of the U.S. population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the...
in particular (depending on one's cultural background) can be seen as a form of selling out
Selling out
"Selling out" is the compromising of integrity, morality, or principles in exchange for money or "success" . It is commonly associated with attempts to tailor material to a mainstream audience...
by being disloyal to one's culture. The term is controversial, and its precise meaning is hard to define. Nevertheless, the idea that minority students suffer from the negative prejudices of their ethnic peers is currently accepted as generally true in much of the American media—as expressed in articles in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Time magazine, and The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
—and in American society.
History of usage
The phrase was coined by Signithia Fordham and first popularized in her 1986 study, Black Students' School Success: Coping with the "Burden of 'Acting White.'" The question of whether or not acting white attitudes really exist has been debated back and forth in academic literature. The term rose to further media prominence when Bill Cosby used it in a famous May 2004 speechPound Cake Speech
The Pound Cake speech was given by Bill Cosby in May 2004 during an NAACP awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. In it, Cosby was highly critical of members of subsets of the black community in the United...
. Black people who are accused of acting white are sometimes referred to as Black Anglo-Saxons, a term coined by comedian Paul Mooney. The 2008 election of Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
as President of the United States created a public discussion that the acting white attitude may be waning.
Case studies and research
In 1986, Signithia Fordham co-authored with Nigerian sociologist John Ogbu
John Ogbu
John Uzo Ogbu was a Nigerian-American anthropologist and professor known for his theories on observed phenomena involving race and intelligence, especially how race and ethnic differences played out in educational and economic achievement. He suggested that being a "caste-like minority" affects...
a study that concluded that high-performing African American students in a Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, high school borrowed from hegemonic white culture as part of a strategy for achievement, while struggling to maintain a black identity. Ogbu made a related claim in his 2003 book, Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement, concluding that black students' own cultural attitudes hindered academic achievement and that these attitudes are too often neglected. However, as Ogbu made clear in his seminal work Minority Education and Caste (1978), school disengagement among caste-like minorities occurs because of the glass ceiling
Glass ceiling
In economics, the term glass ceiling refers to "the unseen, yet unbreachable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements." Initially, the metaphor applied to barriers in the careers of women but...
placed by white society on the job-success of their parents and others in their communities. He reasoned that non-whites "failed to observe the link between educational achievement and access to jobs."
Though the study's conclusion gained a popular foothold and has been espoused by figures such as Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
in his famous May 2004 speech
Pound Cake Speech
The Pound Cake speech was given by Bill Cosby in May 2004 during an NAACP awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. In it, Cosby was highly critical of members of subsets of the black community in the United...
, a later study challenged its validity. In 2003, Karolyn Tyson, a sociologist, and William Darity, Jr., an economist, both at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
, directed an 18 month study at eleven North Carolinian schools. The study concluded that white and black students have essentially the same attitudes about scholastic achievement; students in both groups want to succeed in school and show higher levels of self-esteem when they do better in school. They compared attitudes identified as acting white to the normal adolescent pains
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
experienced in John Hughes' movies.
Academics Philip J. Cook
Philip J. Cook
Philip J. Cook is a professor of public policy, sociology, and economics at Duke University in the United States. His research has focused on firearms and crime, as well as alcohol abuse and related problems....
and Jens Ludwig published a report in 1997 finding that blacks do not face any stronger social pressures for succeeding in school than whites, and that they have no greater feelings of alienation towards education in general either. They noted anecdotal and ethnographic research confirming that minority students hold these views, but they concluded that these are not inherently generalizable and do not substantially affect student behavior in the classroom. They labeled the issue "something of a distraction" from what they saw as more important educational reforms.
Stuart Buck, a lawyer, wrote Acting White: The Ironic Legacy of Desegregation in 2010, published by Yale University Press
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day. It became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but remains financially and operationally autonomous....
. He argued that traditionally segregated
Racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
black schools featured teachers, counselors, and others of the same race as the student population of the schools, who in many cases became mentors to the students. However, the integration of schools since the mid- to late-20th century may have caused schools to appear to some black students to be controlled or dominated by whites. Consequently, a black student trying to achieve high educational success may be seen primarily as trying to make him or herself appear superior to others.
A 2006 study titled An Empirical Analysis of "Acting White" by Roland G. Fryer, Jr.
Roland G. Fryer Jr
-External links:* * ] ]* *...
, at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and Paul Torelli suggested that the phenomenon probably had little to no effect on students achieving at average levels, but might explain a significant role in the disparities between black and white students at high achievement levels.Roland G. Fryer, Jr. and Paul Torelli. "An Empirical Analysis of 'Acting White'". National Bureau of Economic Research
National Bureau of Economic Research
The National Bureau of Economic Research is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic community." The NBER is well known for providing start and end...
. Working Paper 11334. Published May 2005. Accessed August 10, 2009. Fryer has also written that, in contrast to Fordham and Ogbu's theory, "acting white" prejudices are actually more common the more integrated
Racial integration
Racial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation . In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions, rather than merely...
the school, with historically black schools
Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Historically black colleges and universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community....
free of any effects. He found that groups such as Italian immigrants in Boston’s West End and the Maori of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
display similar behaviors. He concluded, "[t]here is necessarily a trade-off between doing well and rejection by your peers when you come from a traditionally low-achieving group, especially when that group comes into contact with more outsiders."
A fundamental drawback of much of the research so far is that the people studied have been asked to rate their own popularity
Popularity
Popularity is the quality of being well-liked or common, or having a high social status. Popularity figures are an important part of many people's personal value systems and form a vital component of success in people-oriented fields such as management, politics, and entertainment, among...
in the eyes of others, which naturally brings those scores into question. Roland G. Fryer, Jr. has remarked, "[a]sking teenagers whether they’re popular is like asking them if they’re having sex."
Commentary
John McWhorter
John Hamilton McWhorter V is an American linguist and political commentator. He is the author of a number of books on language and on race relations. His linguistic specialty is creole and the process through which it forms.-Early life:...
has commented, "[t]eenagers have a variety of identities open to them for trying on anti-Establishment postures. White kids can be stoners or goths. Black kids can be 'nonwhite'." He interpreted those kids as black "nerd
Nerd
Nerd is a derogatory slang term for an intelligent but socially awkward and obsessive person who spends time on unpopular or obscure pursuits, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities. Nerds are considered to be awkward, shy, and unattractive...
s". He stated that the acting white attitude developed as the creation of an "other
Other
The Other or Constitutive Other is a key concept in continental philosophy; it opposes the Same. The Other refers, or attempts to refer, to that which is Other than the initial concept being considered...
" among newly integrated
Racial integration
Racial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation . In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions, rather than merely...
African-American kids.
In their aforementioned study, Karolyn Tyson and William Darity, Jr., stated that school staff and faculty who hold racist attitudes about the ability of black students use the attitude as a cover for disparities in student performance. Shelby Steele
Shelby Steele
-Awards:*National Book Critics Circle Award in the general non-fiction category for the book The Content of Our Character.*Emmy and Writers Guild Awards for his 1991 Frontline documentary film Seven Days in Bensonhurst.-External links:**...
wrote in The Content of Our Character that what he identified as middle class black values
Value system
A value system is a set of consistent ethic values and measures used for the purpose of ethical or ideological integrity. A well defined value system is a moral code.-Personal and communal:...
are falsely viewed by the majority of blacks as "white" while they are actually colorblind. He argued that this attitude is separate from the natural reaction of young blacks in poverty
Poverty in the United States
Poverty is defined as the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. According to the U.S. Census Bureau data released Tuesday September 13th, 2011, the nation's poverty rate rose to 15.1% in 2010, up from 14.3% in 2009 and to its highest level...
.
Commentator Steve Sailer
Steve Sailer
Steven Ernest Sailer is an American journalist and movie critic for The American Conservative, a blogger, a VDARE.com columnist, and a former correspondent for UPI. He writes about race relations, gender issues, politics, immigration, IQ, genetics, movies, and sports.-Personal life:Sailer grew up...
has argued that the theory of acting white is a red herring. He has also argued that innate genetic differences in intelligence between races
Race and intelligence
The connection between race and intelligence has been a subject of debate in both popular science and academic research since the inception of intelligence testing in the early 20th century...
are the primary cause of racial differences in school success. He has, however, stated as well that acting white pressures do play some role, particularly with Hispanic-Americans.
New York University School of Law
New York University School of Law
The New York University School of Law is the law school of New York University. Established in 1835, the school offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in law, and is located in Greenwich Village, in the New York City borough of Manhattan....
professor Kenji Yoshino
Kenji Yoshino
Kenji Yoshino is a legal scholar and the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law. Formerly, he was the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School. His work involves Constitutional law, anti-discrimination law, civil and human rights,...
wrote in his 2006 book Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights
Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights
Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights, published in 2006 is both an analysis on society’s views on race and sexuality and a collection of autobiographical anecdotes. Kenji Yoshino, the author, is the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at the NYU School of Law...
criticizing what he sees as social pressures to conform to mainstream white culture. He stated that this constitutes a violation of African-Americans' civil rights and that they should be able to uphold their own social distinctions. He also stated that they should be able to freely choose to identify with white culture if they wish. Anne Arnett Ferguson, Assistant Professor of Afro-American Studies and Women's Studies at Smith College
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
, has written that white culture "ruthlessly excludes African American cultural modes as relevant and meaningful". She highlighted the insistence in schools of standard English
Standard English
Standard English refers to whatever form of the English language is accepted as a national norm in an Anglophone country...
over Black Vernacular English as an example.
Clarence Page
Clarence Page
Clarence Page is an American journalist, syndicated columnist, and senior member of The Chicago Tribune editorial board.-Early years:...
remarked on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer in 2004:
Barack Obama
PresidentPresident of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, who is biracial
Multiracial American
Multiracial Americans, US residents who identify themselves as of "two or more races", were numbered at around 9 million, or 2.9% of the population, in the census of 2010. However there is considerable evidence that the real number is far higher. Prior to the mid-20th century many people hid their...
, has been labeled as "acting white" by Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
and "talking white" by Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
.
Obama's presidential victory in the 2008 election
Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008
Barack Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois, on February 10, 2007. On August 27, 2008, he was declared nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election...
and public image have started a public debate about whether or not the stigma of 'acting white' will go away in the future. Commentators John McWhorter
John McWhorter
John Hamilton McWhorter V is an American linguist and political commentator. He is the author of a number of books on language and on race relations. His linguistic specialty is creole and the process through which it forms.-Early life:...
and Stephen J. Dubner
Stephen J. Dubner
Stephen J. Dubner is an American journalist who has written four books and numerous articles. Dubner is best known as co-author of the pop-economics book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything and its 2009 sequel, SuperFreakonomics.-Background:His parents were...
have stated that it might. Yahanna of the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge
Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge
Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge is a non-profit organization based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. The group is part of the Hebrew Israelism movement, which regards American blacks as descendants of the Twelve Tribes of Israel...
, considered to be a black supremacist organization, did not consider Obama to be black but "African of white descent" and advised African-Americans not to vote for him.
Obama himself vehemently criticized the concept in his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention
2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address
The keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention was given by then Illinois State Senator, United States Senate candidate , and future President Barack Obama on the night of Tuesday, July 27, 2004...
, arguing that "children can’t achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.”
See also
- Black shameBlack shameBlack shame is a term used to describe how some people of African descent view themselves among societies in which they are a minority and feel oppressed...
- EbonicsEbonicsEbonics is a term that was originally intended to refer to the language of all people descended from enslaved Africans, particularly in West Africa, the Caribbean, and North America...
- Educational attainment in the United States#Race
- Oppositional cultureOppositional cultureOppositional culture is a term that describes subcultures who consciously reject mainstream values and norms. The term is most often used by sociologists who study education, such as John Ogbu....
- Oreo
- Stereotype threatStereotype threatStereotype threat is the experience of anxiety or concern in a situation where a person has the potential to confirm a negative stereotype about their social group. First described by social psychologist Claude Steele and his colleagues, stereotype threat has been shown to reduce the performance of...
- Stereotypes of African Americans
- Straight-acting
- Tall poppy syndromeTall poppy syndromeTall poppy syndrome is a pejorative term primarily used in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other Anglosphere nations to describe a social phenomenon in which people of genuine merit are resented, attacked, cut down, or criticised because their talents or achievements elevate them above...
- Uncle TomUncle TomUncle Tom is a derogatory term for a person who perceives themselves to be of low status, and is excessively subservient to perceived authority figures; particularly a black person who behaves in a subservient manner to white people....
- WiggerWiggerWigger is a pejorative slang term for a white person who emulates mannerisms, language, and fashions associated with African-American culture, particularly hip hop in the United States or the Grime/Garage scene in Britain. The term is a portmanteau of either wannabe or white and nigger...
External links
- "Facing Identity Conflicts, Black Students Fall Behind". National Public Radio. Recorded November 1, 2009.
- "The Price of Acting White". By Richard Morin. The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. June 5, 2005. - "Study: ‘Acting White’ Accusation". By David Pluviose. Diverse. April 5, 2006.
- "Collective Identity and the Burden of “Acting White” in Black History, Community, and Education ". By John U. Ogbu. Urban Review. Volume 36 Issue 1, pages 1–35. March 2004.