ABSTRACT
Racial identity has been an essential construct in education for decades. This construct was manifested in the use of Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s classic line drawing (1939, 1940) and ethnic doll (1947) racial identity studies as evidence on the detrimental effects caused by Jim Crow in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. In this case, lawyers for the NAACP argued that the racial caste system of the United States had a deleterious consequence on the Black psyche, causing extreme self-hatred and low self-esteem (Benjamin & Crouse, 2002; Keppel, 2002; Martin, 1998). Indeed, the argument proved to be successful, helping persuade Chief Justice Earl Warren to view the practice of “separate but equal” as unconstitutional; in fact, Warren referenced the Clarks in the text of the decision (see Brown v. Education, 1954; Martin, 1998). The very referencing of such research in the Brown decision supported the seriousness of the issue of racial identity in education.
