Black is Beautiful
A re-examination of racial preference and identification
Joseph Hraba and Geoffrey Grant
University of Nebraska at Lincoln
1970
· Ethnic Awareness - knowing the difference between black and white, and then at a later age the difference between Anglo Americans and Hispanics.
· Ethnic Identity - using pictures or dolls and asking the child which picture or doll looks like him or herself. Most children of four years or more can do this correctly.
· Ethnic Preference - is the concern of this study.
Phinney (1990) - components of ethnic identity.
· Self identification - ethnic identity - ethnic label.
· Evaluative attitude - feelings about group membership.
· Sense of belonging/ethnic involvement - strong bonds, participating in cultural life.
Kenneth and Mamie Clark (1939, 1947) performed a study in which ethnic preference was tested using a choice between black and white dolls. Blacks tended to favour the white dolls, and the Clarks viewed this as evidencing how the black children considered themselves as inferior, and were filled with self-hatred.
It is important for children to identify with a group. Social Identity Theory (SIT, Tajfel & Turner, 1979, 1986) considers that our sense of identity is closely bound up with our various group memberships (Brown 1996). Identifying with a group is easy for white children, but difficult for black children who see their group as being discriminated against and looked down upon.
Misidentification - gives one a position in society (also seen with the working class's identification with the royal family).
Self-denigration was addressed by civil rights and black politico-cultural movements in the USA. The phrase 'Black is beautiful' was born.
Hraba and Grant's experiment is quasi-experimental and is a replication of Clark and Clark's original with additional questions about the race of the children's friends.
1. Clark and Clark doll studies and follow-up.
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Item Clark & Clark (1947) Hraba & Grant (1970)
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Black subjects Black subjects White subjects
1. Play with:
White Doll 67% 30% 83%
Black Doll 32% 70% 16%
2. Nice doll:
White Doll 59% 46% 70%
Black Doll 38% 54% 30%
3. Looks bad:
White Doll 17% 61% 34%
Black Doll 59% 36% 63%
4. Nice color:
White Doll 60% 31% 48%
Black Doll 38% 69% 49%
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Numbers indicate percent of children choosing white or black doll in response to each question.
Clark and Clark (1947) found that black children preferred white dolls when asked to choose which were nice, which looked bad, which they would like to play with, and which was a nice colour. This implies that black is not beautiful. However, Gregor and McPherson (1966) found that southern, urban black children, 6 and seven years old, generally preferred a black doll. They proposed that black children's preferences for white stems from their contact with whites. Clark and Clark did find that black children in interracial nursery schools were more pronounced in their preference for white dolls than those in segregated nursery schools. Johnson (1966) found 18 black youths (mean age of 12) in a Harlem freedom school rated black equal to white. He concluded that not all Negroes have negative self-attitudes. It is difficult to compare Clark and Clark with Johnson. Johnson used four semantic differential rating scales. The samples are not comparable on age and social setting.
Hraba and Grant recognise that the amount of contact black people have with white people could explain the preference for the white dolls, but they will attempt to demonstrate that attitudes have changed at the time of writing (1970). Black people are now proud of being black, and would probably choose the black doll regardless of the amount of contact with whites.
Method
Procedure
The procedures used by Clark and Clark were followed as closely as possible. The respondents were interviewed individually using a set of four dolls, 2 black and 2 white, identical in all other respects. The same questions used by the Clarks were asked. They are as follows:
Clark and Clark designed items 1-4 to measure racial preference, items 5-7 to measure racial awareness or knowledge, and item 8 to measure racial self-identification.
In order to see whether there is a relationship between the child's choice of doll and their choice of best friends the children were asked to name and give the race of their best friends. Their teachers were also asked.
Sample
4-8 years of age.
5 public schools provided a sampling frame containing 73 percent of the correct age black children in the public school system of Lincoln, Nebraska.
89 blacks, or 60 percent of the eligible blacks attending Lincoln public schools.
71 white children were randomly drawn from the same classrooms.
The interviews were conducted in May 1969.
The race of the interviewer was controlled for.
Black people comprise 1.4 percent of the total population of Lincoln.70 percent of the black sample reported they had white friends.
Results
Racial preference
The Lincoln black sample tended to give the opposite answers to the Clark and Clark sample for each of the first four questions. Each of these results was significant using chi-square.
The white children were significantly more ethnocentric on questions 1 and 2. The black children were significantly more ethnocentric on question 4.
Age
The Clarks found that black children preferred white dolls at all ages (3-7), although this decreased with age. Hraba and Grant found that a majority of the black children at all ages (3-8) preferred a black doll, and this preference increased with age. This was true for white children as well, except for question 4.
Skin colour and doll preference
The Clarks found that the children of light skin colour showed the greatest preference for the white doll and the dark children the least. No such trend was found with the Lincoln sample.
Racial identification
Questions 5-7 were to measure knowledge of racial differences, while question 8 was to measure racial self-identification. With questions 5 and 6, both samples were able to identify white and coloured doll. With question 7, more of the Lincoln sample correctly identified the doll that "looks like a Negro child".
Age
For both samples and both races, misidentification was more likely amongst the younger ones.
Skin colour and misidentification
There was no significant difference for the misidentification of the dolls between children of different skin colours. Clark and Clark had found that 80% of light skinned black children did misidentify. Greenwald and Oppenheim (1968) added a mixed-race colour doll and reduced misidentification for light skinned children down to 11%.
Race of interviewer
No effect.
Race of respondent's friends
There was no relationship between choice of doll and the race of the respondent's friends.
23 black children answered questions 1 to 4 preferring the black doll, without contradiction. 20 white children answered preferring the white doll. 20 out of these 23 black children had white friends. However, 12 of the 20 (60%) white children had all white friends compared with 41% of all the white children.
Discussion
Doll preference
Black children in interracial settings are not necessarily white oriented. Reasons for this:
Doll preference and friendship
The USA joint commission on Mental Health of children (1970) concluded that discrimination has damaging effects on the psychological adjustment and self-esteem of young-children and adolescents. Through prejudice, black children are subjected to derogatory views and negative self-images.
Gopaul-McNicol (1992) - studied black pre-schoolers from New York and Trinidad. Their attitudes were felt to be formed from social inheritance and not so much from the influence of the home.
Schaffer (1986) disagrees - the family is a more powerful source of influence. Minority children may be aware of their underprivileged status, but may not internalise these values.
We need to distinguish between 'group identity' and 'personal identity'. Group identity could be measured by the children's evaluation of their group. 'Personal identity' could be measured by measuring the child's self-esteem.
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Powell-Hopson (1985)
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McAdoo (1973, 1978) Black children can hold negative own-race attitudes as well as positive self-concepts. Racial attitudes are held separately from self-evaluation.
Clark (1992) has doubts over Clark and Clark's construct validity. Doll choice is a poor predictor of self-esteem. This conflicts with the 'black self-hatred doctrine'.
Other discriminated against groups (women, gay people and the physically disabled, for example) tend not to suffer from low self-esteem (Crocker & Maier, 1989).
Bennett et al (1991) when given a scale of liking and disliking of different racial groups, older children used a spread of scores and were less ethnocentric.
Ethnic identity is important in adolescence (Shaffer 1996). The adolescence goes through a stage that is typified by acute self-consciousness.
Tizard & Phoenix (1993) 58 14-17 year old mixed race adolescents were studied. Most described themselves as 'mixed' rather than 'black' or 'white'. They did not want to alienate a parent by identifying with just one race. Twice as many wished to be a different colour compared with blacks. They felt hostility from both blacks and whites. However, 60% were positive about their racial identity, 20% were anxious and 20% felt that their racial identity was problematic.
Trans-racial placements - black children are placed with white parents. The research in this area has been positive about identity formation in this setting, however research with other children suggests it is best to avoid such placements if possible.
Black teens score high in self-esteem Observer 4th June 2000
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