Critical Race Theory as Insurgent Space: Challenging the New One-Drop Rule

• In Event: Emancipatory Practices in Antiracist Classrooms

Abstract

The one-drop rule refers to being racialized Black when someone contains any amount of Black ancestry, i.e. one “drop” of black blood. In this paper, I use what I call “the new one-drop rule” to explain how even the smallest presence of whiteness can be used to disrupt attempts at racial equity in schools. Based on a critical race ethnography in a racially desegregated elementary school, I show how one “drop” of whiteness can cause usually more racially literate white teachers to reassert white discourse, a discourse that functions to uphold white racial superiority. Furthermore, I illustrate how collaborative research grounded in critical race theory (CRT) can mitigate the power of white discourse and promote broader racial literacy in schools.

Author

• Benjamin Blaisdell, East Carolina University