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Mixed Experience History Month 2017: Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, Educator & Activist

May 16, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, also known as Zitkala-Sa or Red Bird, was born in 1876 to a full-blooded Sioux woman and a white man.

She struggled with her mixed-race heritage as a chid on the reservation as well as off.  She received a scholarship to attend Earlham University where she studied violin.

Her activism began after she took a teaching position at the New England Conservatory where the school’s founder’s philosophy was “Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.”

She started writing essays against the movement to make Indian students relinquish their cultural identities.  In 1916, as an officer of the Society of American Indians, she was instrumental in the formation of the Indian Welfare Committee and wrote an investigation into the government’s mistreatment of Indian tribes–specifically, the defrauding of American Indians in Oklahoma of their oil-rich lands.  In 1926, she founded the National Council of American Indians, a lobbying group for American Indian legal rights.

Zitkala-Sa’s worked as an activist her entire life, but she also kept up her love for music and writing.  In 1938, her opera “Sun Dance” debuted on Broadway.  She died that same year.-Heidi Durrow


Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by The New York Times best-selling author Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks and events involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for archived profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year’s profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,  2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.

 

Filed Under: Mixed Experience History Month Tagged With: biracial, biracial historical figures, biracial history, growing up biracial, heidi durrow, mixed, mixed experience, mixed experience history month, mixed race historical figures, mixed race history, mixed roots festival, multiracial artists

Mixed Experience History Month 2017: James Welch, award-winning writer

May 15, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

mixed race, multiracial, biracial, mixed race historical figures, mixed race history, biracial historical figures, the mixed experienceJames Welch (1940-2003) was a mixed-race writer of Native American descent.

Welch was the son of two mixed-race Native Americans of Blackfeet and A’aninin tribes.  They were both raised with their Native American cultures as was Welch.

Welch published his first poetry book, Riding the Earthboy Forty, in 1971.  He published several novels including Winter in the Blood, Fool’s Crow, and The Indian Lawyer provided him interntational critical acclaim.  He wrote about Native American life and experience.  He received the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.

He died in 2003 from a heart attack.


Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by The New York Times best-selling author Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks and events involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for archived profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year’s profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,  2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.

Filed Under: Mixed Experience History Month Tagged With: biracial, biracial historical figures, biracial identity, growing up biracial, heidi durrow, mixed experience, mixed race, mixed race historical figures, mixed race history

Mixed Experience History Month: Lydia Hamilton Smith, abolitionist and mixed-race businesswoman

May 3, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

mixed race history, mixed race, biracial history, biracial, growing up biracialLydia Hamilton Smith (1813-1884) was the daughter of a mixed-race free woman and an Irish man.
In 1847, Smith started working as the housekeeper to abolitionist and long-time US Congressman Thaddeus Stevens. Smith, however, comported herself as an equal to Stevens–essentially as a common law wife. Stevens was an Underground Railroad activist and Smith was also helping to distribute food and provisions.
When Stevens died, Smith received a portion of his inheritance which allowed her to buy his house and adjoining property. She also bought a boarding house in Washington D.C. that she ran successfully.  She died in 1884 on Valentine’s Day.-Heidi Durrow

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by The New York Times best-selling author Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks and events involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for archived profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year’s profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,  2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.


Filed Under: Mixed Experience History Month Tagged With: biracial, biracial historical figures, growing up biracial, mixed race, mixed race history, multiracial

Mixed Experience History Month 2017: Kick Off!

May 1, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

Mixed Experience History Month begins!

Now in its 11th year, this series that I founded in 2007 continues to highlight really wonderful histories of mixed-race and multiracial people and experience.

I established Mixed Experience History Month originally on my personal blog Light-skinned-ed Girl as a way of claiming a history and a voice that I felt had been denied me.

Part of the difficulty of claiming one’s identity in the Mixed experience is that we have no history.  Our stories have been written out of the texts to conform to what society has allowed us to say about our racial identities.  And usually that has either silenced our experiences and/or simplified them.

Part of the difficulty of claiming one’s identity in the Mixed experience is that we have no history. #multiracial #mixedrace

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It’s easy to celebrate Mixed Experience History Month!  Just follow along with the posts I’ll make each weekday in May profiling historical figures and events that relate to the Mixed experience.  This year I will be posting the blog profiles on my website The Mixed Experience in their entirety and in part on my personal blog with a click through link.

If you have ideas of people I should profile please email me at heidi(at)heidiwdurrow.com.  And remember this is history so I’m only looking for people to profile who have passed away!  P.S. Anybody know who this year’s badge features (I made it easy this year)?–Heidi Durrow

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by The New York Times best-selling author Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks and events involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for archived profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year’s profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,  2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.

Filed Under: Mixed Experience History Month Tagged With: biracial, biracial historical figures, growing up biracial, mixed race, mixed race history, multiracial

Season 4, Episode 17: Hapa Actress Keiko Elizabeth and Playwright Phinneas Kiyomura

April 25, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

LIVE 5/1/17 5PM EASTERN: I am very excited to talk to these talented artists about this new play, Supper, that is getting great reviews at the Theatre of Note.  Don’t miss this talk! -Heidi Durrow

Supper written by Phinneas Kiyomura and starring Keiko Elizabeth follows four super-rich and estranged brothers as they reunite in Japan on the eve of their eldest brother’s wedding. What follows is a strange and savage feast of lies, recriminations, and bitter truths served with a side of jet-black humor.  Supper is a brute farce custom built for this day and age.  It is now playing through May 20, 2017 at the Theatre of Note.  You can find more information and get tickets here.

I can’t wait to talk with @iamkeiko about a new play Supper @theatreofNote

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Keiko Elizabeth is an LA-based actress working in television, film & theatre. Originally from Northern California, Keiko has a degree in Biology from Stanford University and an MFA in Acting from Cal State Fullerton.

Keiko’s came to acting later than most. She went from being pre-med at Stanford with dreams of working with Doctors without Borders, to teaching science to middle schoolers transitioning out of juvenile hall, to helping to found a K-8 school in Oakland. In these arts-rich educational environments, Keiko saw first-hand the power of storytelling to heal and connect communities and individuals.

It was this perspective that prompted her to take to stage for the first time in a community production of The Wizard of Oz, an experience that sparked a curiosity and passion for the craft and process of an actor. Shortly afterward, Keiko was accepted into the MFA program at Cal State Fullerton.

Since graduation, she has worked on numerous TV and film projects, from comedies like Hot in Cleveland and Angie Tribeca, to fan favorites such as Hawaii Five-O and Days of Our Lives. She is still an avid fan of the theatre, and is a company member at Los Angeles’s Theatre of NOTE, where she currently plays Naomi in the world-premiere production of Supper, by Phinneas Kiyomura.


 

Phinneas Kiyomura is a playwright, television writer, actor, former skate punk, and dad living in Los Angeles, CA.

His plays have been produced at Theatre of NOTE, Padua Playwrights and Sacred Fools, among others. He is a FIND Screenwriters Lab Fellow, an ABC Disney Writers Lab Fellow, winner of the Klasky Csupo writing competition, and was a writer on Twisted (Freeform). He has developed projects for New Regency, Mark Gordon Co., John Glenn, and ABC Studios.

He is currently developing several projects, including: Internment, a passion project inspired by his father’s experiences in the Japanese American Internment Camps, and Ring of Fire, an exploration of faith and madness.

He appears as an actor in upcoming features Kill Me, Deadly and After We Leave. His graphic novel, 442, is now available on the Stēla app for iPhone and Android. His play Supper, a brute farce that slices into the 1%, is currently running in rep at Theatre of NOTE.

Filed Under: Episodes Tagged With: growing up biracial, hapa, multiracial, multiracial artists

Season 4, Episode 14: Mixed Race Writer Maria Olsen on the New Normal Family

January 11, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

LIVE 2/13/17 5pm Eastern: I am excited to talk with Maria Olsen who is a children’s book author and now has a new non-fiction book: Not the Cleaver Family–The New Normal in Modern American Families (Tate Publishing, 2016).Don’t miss my talk with her.-Heidi Durrow

I interview Maria Olsen 2/13 5pm EASTERN. Tune in!

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Maria Leonard Olsen is a biracial woman whose parents were forbidden by law to marry in their home state of Maryland in the early 1960s. She is the mother of two children, a lawyer, journalist, radio talk show host (WPFW fm 89.3 in Washington, D.C.) and author of the children’s book, “Mommy, Why’s Your Skin So Brown?” Maria graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law, served in the Clinton Administration’s Justice Department, fostered newborn babies awaiting adoption, and has been on the boards of Children’s National Medical Center BOV, the Catholic Coalition for Special Education, GirlsUp and the Alzheimer’s Association of Greater Washington. She has written for The Washington Post,Washingtonian, Bethesda Magazine, Parenting, BabyTalk and Washington For Women. She lives in Fairhaven, Maryland.

 

Filed Under: Books, Episodes Tagged With: biracial, biracial artists, biracial family, biracial identity, growing up biracial, hapa, mixed experience, mixed festival, mixed race artists, multiracial

Season 4, Episode 9: Shine Text Founders & Mixed Chicks Marah Lidey and Naomi Hirabayashi

September 13, 2016 by admin Leave a Comment

shine-logoRECORDED 10/19/16: You don’t want to miss this conversation with two of the most dynamic young, mixed-chick entrepreneurs around.  Marah Lidey and Naomi Hirabayashi are the co-founders of Shine Text. Shine is a daily text experience to help you be your best self at work and life. Every morning, Shine sends you actionable tips and content around confidence, daily happiness, mental health, or productivity. It’s available via Facebook Messenger as well.  Learn how these millenials went from good idea to product and now an ever-growing tech business.  You can listen to the episode here or download it from itunes.-Heidi Durrow
multiracial, heidi durrow, the girl who fell from the sky, mixed race, biracial, growing up biracial, biracial identity, multiracial identity, multiculturalism, biracial family, blasian, hapa, mixed race adoption
Don’t miss my talk w/ @shinetext founders & mixed-chick-preneurs! #multiracial #mixedrace

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Marah Lidey
multiracial, mixed race, biracial, growing up biracial, biracial identity, multiracial identity, multiculturalism, biracial family, blasian, hapa, mixed race adoptionMarah Lidey is the co-founder of Shine Text, helping people live more intentionally through the power of daily messaging. Her expertise lies at the intersection of millennials and messaging; Marah previously directed mobile for brands like DoSomething.org, American Express and Viacom. Marah secured her B.A. in Journalism at the University of Georgia and currently reside in Brooklyn, NY. A World Economic Forum Global Shaper, and one of the Top 35 People to Watch in NYC Tech by Built in NYC, Marah also actively advocates for increasing racial and socioeconomic diversity in technology and entrepreneurship.
 
Naomi Hirabayashi 
Multiracial, mixed race, biracial, growing up biracial, biracial identity, multiracial identity, multiculturalism, biracial family, blasian, hapa, mixed race adoptionNaomi Hirabayashi is the co-founder of Shine: the daily messaging experience to help you be your best self. Prior to Shine, Naomi was the Chief Marketing Officer at DoSomething.org, the largest organization for young people and social action in the world. Naomi, named one of the Top 35 People to Watch in NYC Tech by Built in NYC, lives in Brooklyn with her fiancé, is passionate about diversifying entrepreneurship, women & confidence, and believes Brené Brown is a QUEEN.

Filed Under: Episodes Tagged With: biracial, biracial family, biracial identity, blasian, growing up biracial, hapa, heidi durrow, mixed race, mixed race adoption, multiculturalism, multiracial, multiracial identity, the girl who fell from the sky

Season 4, Episode : Henok Negash, Mixed-Race Magician Making it Happen!

September 12, 2016 by admin Leave a Comment

RECORDED 10/10/16: I was so excited to talk with Henok Negash, a biracial magician who is really making it happen with his magic these days.  He recently appeared on Penn & Teller’s TV show and had Penn & Teller as well as the audience capativated.  Don’t miss my talk with him.  You can listen here or download it on itunes.-Heidi Durrow
Don’t miss my conversation with #mixedrace #multiracial magician Henok Negash.

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Multiracial, mixed race, biracial, growing up biracial, biracial identity, multiracial identity, multiculturalism, biracial family, blasian, hapa, mixed race adoption
Henok Negash has been a magician since the age of 12 (currently 36 years old). Henok Negash has henok negash, mixed race magicianperforming seriously for 8 years. He has a bachelor’s and masters degree in Social Work from San Diego State University. He had about a 12-year career in social services. He is a former Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Rural Thailand for 3 years. He has also published research on strategies to address type 2 diabetes care in rural settings. However, his focus now is on magic. He is focusing on performing in a way that is authentic, has meaning but also entertaining with a touch of humor. He’s doing my best to keep things modern and relevant.

Filed Under: Episodes Tagged With: biracial, biracial family, biracial identity, blasian, growing up biracial, hapa, mixed race, mixed race adoption, multiculturalism, multiracial, multiracial identity

Season 4, Episode 7: Award-Winning Author Mat Johnson, Loving Day in paperback

September 9, 2016 by admin Leave a Comment

RECORDED 10/4/16: You really don’t want to miss this!  I interview the talented and best-selling author Mat Johnson about his latest novel, Loving Day, now out in paperback. Listen to the show here or download the episode from itunes.-Heidi Durrow

Tune in to my interview of @mat_johnson. Be warned we say the M-Word! #multiracial #mixedrace

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multiracial, mixed race, biracial, growing up biracial, biracial identity, multiracial identity, multiculturalism, biracial family, blasian, hapa, mixed race adoption

This is what people are saying about Mat Johnson and his book Loving Day:

Mat Johnson, Heidi DurrowA NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK | NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY MIAMI HERALD AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY San Francisco Chronicle • NPR • Men’s Journal • The Denver Post • Slate • The Kansas City Star • Time Out New York | From the author of the critically beloved Pym (“Imagine Kurt Vonnegut having a beer with Ralph Ellison and Jules Verne.”—Vanity Fair) comes a ruthlessly comic and moving tale of a man discovering a lost daughter, confronting an elusive ghost, and stumbling onto the possibility of utopia.

“Exceptional . . . To say that Loving Day is a book about race is like saying Moby-Dick is a book about whales. . . . [Mat Johnson’s] unrelenting examination of blackness, whiteness and everything in between is handled with ruthless candor and riotous humor. . . . Even when the novel’s family strife and racial politics are at peak intensity, Johnson’s comic timing is impeccable.”—Los Angeles Times

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: biracial, biracial family, biracial identity, blasian, growing up biracial, hapa, mixed race, mixed race adoption, multiculturalism, multiracial, multiracial identity

Season 4, Episode 4: Author/Historian Arica Coleman on Mixed-Race Black and Native American Connections

August 27, 2016 by admin Leave a Comment

arica coleman book coverRECORDED 9/16/16: I had a fantastic conversation with Professor Arica Coleman, author of That the Blood Stay Pure: African Americans, Native Americans and the Predicament of Race and Identity in Virginia.  Tune in live or download the episode from itunes.-Heidi Durrow

 

 

Don’t miss this podcast about African-American and Native American connections with @alcphd #multiracial

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arica collage

arica colemanDr. Arica L. Coleman is an award-winning American historian whose research focuses on comparative ethnic studies and issues of racial formation and identity. Her additional research interests include indigeneity, immigration/migration, interracial relations, mixed race identity, race and gender intersections, sexuality, the politics of race and science, and popular culture.

Dr. Coleman is an evaluator of African American Programs for the Delaware Humanities Forum and a freelance contributor to Time Magazine’s History and Archives Division. She is also chair of the  ALANA Committee  for  the Organization of American Historians which focuses on the status of African American, Latino/a American, Native American and Asian American histories and historians within the history profession. She is the 2015-2017 chairperson for ALANA’s Huggins/Quarles Award and ALANA’s committee chairperson for 2016-2018. In addition, she serves on the Critical Mixed Race Conference 2017 Planning Committee.

Dr. Coleman received her doctorate in American Studies with a concentration in African American-Native America relations in North America from the Union Institute and University in 2005.  She completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Scholarly Information Resources and Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University during the 2006-2007 academic year.  In 2008, she was a summer Mellon Fellow for the Future of Minority Studies Consortium at Cornell University.

Dr. Coleman has held faculty appointments in Africana Studies at Widener University, the University of Delaware and Johns Hopkins University. In 2014, she was lead faculty facilitator for the UNCF/Mellon Faculty Fellows Domestic Summer Institute held at the University of New Mexico. The seminar titled In Search of Home: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Shared Experiences of Indigenous and Immigrant Populations in Colonized Spaces was developed in collaboration with UNM, The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, and the Laguna Pueblo Nation.

Dr. Coleman has lectured and presented papers at academic and public venues including The Organization of American Historians, The American Historical Association, The Association for the Study of African American Life and History, MIT’s Conference on Race and Science, The National Holocaust Museum, The Virginia Forum, The United Cherokee Nation of Virginia Annual Meeting, and the Hampton Public Library.

She has also lent her expertise on matters of race and ethnicity to the Washington Post,Indian Country Today, History News Network, L.A. Progressive, NPR’s Another View, The Female View Broadcast, Native Trailblazers Blog Radio, CTV (Canada News), and the Virginia General Assembly House Rules Committee.

Her first book, That the Blood Stay Pure: African Americans, Native Americans and the Predicament of Race and Identity in Virginia, a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2014, traces the history and legacy of Virginia’s effort to maintain racial purity and the consequences of this almost four hundred year effort on African American – Native American relations and kinship bonds in the Commonwealth.

Filed Under: Episodes Tagged With: biracial, growing up biracial, heidi durrow, mixed experience, mixed experience history month, mixed race, mixed remixed festival, mixed roots, multiracial, multiracial identity

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Host Heidi Durrow

Host Heidi Durrow

Heidi Durrow is the New York Times best-selling writer of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky and the founder of the original mixed roots film and book festival and now the founder of Mixed Remixed Festival , an annual film, book and performance festival, which will be held next on June 10-11, 2016 at … [Read More]

Recent Posts

  • Season 5, Episode 3: Award-Winning Writer Amina Gautier November 14, 2017
  • Season 5, Episode 2: New York Times Bestselling Writer Julie Lythcott-Haims October 12, 2017
  • Season 4, Episode 19: Writer/Literary Critic Janet Savage July 3, 2017
  • Mixed Experience History Month 2017: Paula Gunn Allen, writer and scholar May 17, 2017
  • Mixed Experience History Month 2017: Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, Educator & Activist May 16, 2017

The Mixed Experience Minute Vlog

the mixed experience by heidi durrow

The Mixed Experience Minute

In 2007, I instituted Mixed Experience History Month to celebrate historical stories of the Mixed … [Read More...]

Guest Host Jennifer Frappier

Guest Host Jennifer Frappier

I'm so excited that Jennifer Frappier will join The Mixed Experience as a guest host on future … [Read More...]

Podcast Episodes

the mixed experience by heidi durrow

The Mixed Experience Podcast

You can find all episodes and information about guests of The Mixed Experience podcast here and also … [Read More...]

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