Shades of Black

William E. Cross, Jr., is a psychologist and Associate Professor in the Africana Studies and Research Center of Cornell University.

"There is not a comparable book that pulls together all of the literature on race attitudes as Cross has done. This is an excellent book; it should be widely read."-Harriette McAdoo, Howard University "In his book, Mr. Cross presents the results of his close re-reading of the original data from the literature on black identity from 1939 to 1967. Almost without exception, he says, the scholars involved committed two significant errors: They drew conclusions about adult identity from the results of research among preschool-aged children. In addition, they used measures that assessed social attitudes-views about racial identity-but interpreted their findings as if they had also measured elements of personality, such as self-esteem and self-hatred."-The Chronicle of Higher Education"A major contribution to the scholarship on Black psychological identity.... Cross has carefully addressed this dominant thesis of psychology, and successfully brought it under a new scientific jurisdiction."-James M. Jones, University of Delaware

• Preface Acknowledgments Part I: Rethinking Self-Hatred 1. Landmark Studies of Negro Identity 2. Empirical Research on Group Identity and Personal Identity 3. Testing the Lewinian Hypothesis 4. Issues of Imposition, Self-Hatred, and Celebration Part II: the Psychology of Nigrescence 5. Black Militancy and the Psychology of Nigrescence 6. Rethinking Nigrescence Appendix: Summary of Forty-Five Studies of Black Identity Bibliography Index