Rachel Dolezal facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rachel Dolezal
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Dolezal at a rally in May 2015
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| Born |
Rachel Anne Dolezal
November 12, 1977 Lincoln County, Montana, U.S.
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| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) |
Kevin Moore
(m. 2000; div. 2004) |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Joshua Dolezal (brother) |
Nkechi Amare Diallo (born Rachel Anne Dolezal; November 12, 1977) is an American former college instructor and activist known for presenting herself as a black woman despite being born to white parents. She is also a former National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter president.
Dolezal was president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington, from 2014 until June 2015, when she resigned in the midst of controversy over her racial identity. She was the subject of public scrutiny when her parents publicly stated that she was pretending to be black but was actually white. The statement by Dolezal's parents followed Dolezal's reports to police and local news media that she had been the victim of race-related hate crimes; a police investigation did not support her allegations. Dolezal had also claimed on an application form to be mixed-race and had falsely claimed that an African-American man was her father and that her brother was her son. In the aftermath of the controversy, Dolezal was dismissed from her position as an instructor in Africana studies at Eastern Washington University and was removed from her post as chair of the Police Ombudsman Commission in Spokane over "a pattern of misconduct". In 2015, Dolezal acknowledged that she was "born white to white parents" but maintained that she self-identified as black.
The Dolezal controversy fuelled a national debate in the United States about racial identity. Dolezal's critics stated that she committed cultural appropriation and fraud; Dolezal asserted that her self-identification is genuine. In 2017, Dolezal released a memoir on her racial identity titled In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World.
Contents
Early life, family, and education
Dolezal was born in Lincoln County, Montana, on November 12, 1977, to Ruthanne (née Schertel) and Lawrence "Larry" Dolezal, who are white and primarily of German, Czech, and Swedish origin; she was born as a blue-eyed blonde with straight hair. Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal were married in 1974. Her surname is of Czech origin. Dolezal has an older biological brother, Joshua Dolezal, who authored a book about their upbringing in Montana. As of 2015, Joshua Dolezal is a full professor of English at Central College in Iowa. When Dolezal was a teenager, her parents adopted three African-American children and one Haitian child.
Dolezal has said she was born and lived in a teepee and that the family had hunted for their food with bow and arrow. She also said that lima beans were used as chess pieces when enjoying family game night. Her mother stated that she and Dolezal's father briefly lived in a teepee in 1974, three years before their daughter was born, and that Dolezal's claims were "totally false". From 2002 to 2006, her parents and siblings lived in South Africa as Christian missionaries. Dolezal said she lived in South Africa as a child, but her family disputes the claim.
Dolezal was raised in the Pentecostal faith. She was homeschooled via the Christian Liberty Academy CLASS program, achieving a 4.0 grade point average (GPA). She was one of several co-valedictorians upon graduation in 1996. She won a $2,000 scholarship for college awarded by Tandy Leather for her entry in their 1996 Leather Art contest. In 1998, she entered art works at Spokane's annual Juneteenth celebration; she expressed African-American themes through collages and mixed-media works.
Following the completion of high school, Dolezal attended Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi, receiving her bachelor's degree in 2000. She then attended Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, D.C.; she received a Master of Fine Arts, summa cum laude, from Howard in 2002. Her thesis at Howard was a series of paintings presented from the perspective of a black man.
In 2000, Dolezal married Kevin Moore, a medical student at Howard University at the time of their marriage. The couple divorced in 2004. Dolezal and Moore have a son, Franklin Moore.
Dolezal gave birth to another son, Langston Attickus, in February 2016.
Career
Art
Dolezal created a fountain sculpture titled "Triumph of the Human Spirit" that consisted of a tall column with troubled, sad figures at its base and dancing, celebrating figures further up the column. It was installed in downtown Spokane in June 2005 and was later auctioned off to benefit the Human Rights Education Institute.
In 2007, while working as an art teacher at School Indigo in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Dolezal collaborated with children to make five works for a "Rights of the Child" exhibit by the Human Rights Education Institute.
Plagiarism accusations
In June 2015, Priscilla Frank at The Huffington Post and Sarah Cascone at Artnet made accusations of plagiarism against Dolezal. A Dolezal painting titled The Shape of Our Kind was alleged to be nearly identical to J. M. W. Turner's 1840 work, The Slave Ship. Frank accused Dolezal of plagiarism for not crediting Turner.
Civil rights activism
Human Rights Institute
A July 2010 newspaper article indicated that Dolezal had stepped down as education director of the Human Rights Institute in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, after having served in that capacity for two years. Dolezal indicated that she was, "for all intents and purposes", forced to resign from the organization after its board declined to hire her as its executive director.
NAACP
Dolezal was elected president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP in 2014, replacing James Wilburn. During her brief tenure, she was noted for revitalizing the chapter. Her resignation from the civil rights organization was announced on June 15, 2015, after the controversy surrounding her racial identity became public.
Police Ombudsman Commission
Dolezal applied for the position of chair of the Office of the Police Ombudsman Commission in Spokane in May 2014, and was subsequently appointed by Mayor David Condon. In her application, she identified herself as having several ethnicities, including black. In June 2015, City Council President Ben Stuckart said the city had opened an investigation of the truthfulness of her application. On June 17, 2015, the investigation concluded that she had acted improperly, violated government rules and abused her authority, and the report said the evidence and interviews confirmed workplace harassment allegations and "a pattern of misconduct" by Dolezal. Dolezal was asked to resign by Condon and Stuckart due to "intimidating and harassing" behavior. On June 18, 2015, the Spokane City Council voted unanimously to remove Dolezal from her position as chair of the Police Ombudsman Commission.
Teaching and writing
In 2015, Eastern Washington University stated that "since 2010, Rachel Dolezal has been hired at Eastern Washington University on a quarter-by-quarter basis as an instructor in the Africana Education program. This is a part-time position to address program needs. Dolezal is not a professor." She taught "The Black Woman's Struggle", "African and African American Art History", "African History", "African American Culture", and "Intro to Africana Studies". A statement by university officials on June 15, 2015, indicated that Dolezal was "no longer an employee of Eastern Washington University". Despite not being a professor, she used the title "professor" on several websites.
Dolezal was a frequent contributor to The Inlander, an alternative weekly newspaper in Spokane.
Dolezal released a memoir on her racial identity titled In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World in March 2017.
Dolezal later became a public school teacher for the Catalina Foothills Unified School District in Tucson, Arizona. In February 2024, Dolezal was fired for violating the district's social media policy.
Other work
Dolezal later worked as a hair stylist, specializing in weaves and braids. She also creates and sells her own artwork. She has stated that in the past she worked as a sushi chef.
Racial identity
General
Dolezal is of Northern and Central European ancestry; her father has stated that their family is of primarily European descent and "a small amount of American Indian".
According to her brother Ezra, Dolezal began changing her appearance as early as 2009, when she began using hair products that she had seen Ezra's biological sister use. She began darkening her skin and perming her hair sometime around 2011. When Ezra moved in with Rachel in 2012, she told him that Spokane-area residents knew her as black and said, "Don't blow my cover."
Dolezal has claimed to be a victim of race-related harassment. Dolezal stated on September 29, 2009, to KXLY that a noose had been left on her porch. In July 2010, Dolezal resigned from Human Rights Education Institute in Kootenai County and stated to KREM 2 News that "she had been the target of discrimination". Dolezal's biography on Eastern Washington University's website stated that while she was living in Idaho, "at least eight documented hate crimes targeted (Rachel) Dolezal and her children". Dolezal reportedly made several reports of harassment and other crimes to police in Idaho and Washington, including that she had received a hate mail package at her NAACP post office box and that a swastika was placed on the door of the Human Rights Education Institute, where she had previously worked. Regarding the hate mail package, detectives said the envelope that contained the alleged threats had no postage stamps, barcodes or any other indication of having been handled by the postal service. The postal inspector said, "The only way this letter could have ended up in this P.O. box would be if it was placed there by someone with a key to that box or a USPS employee." According to the Spokesman Review, as of 2015, none of Dolezal's allegations had resulted in an arrest or in the filing of criminal charges.
Dolezal's uncle, Dan Dolezal, has stated that his niece first claimed that a black friend named Albert Wilkerson was her real father in 2012 or 2013. In another 2015 interview, Dolezal made reference to her "stepfather". Dolezal's mother has said she has never met Albert Wilkerson and that Dolezal does not have a stepfather. Dolezal later acknowledged that she had met Wilkerson while living in Idaho and that she considered him her "dad".
In her 2014 application for the position of chair of the Office of the Police Ombudsman Commission in Spokane, Dolezal identified herself as having several ethnicities, including black. In an article she wrote for The Inlander in March 2015, Dolezal included herself when discussing black women through use of the pronouns "we" and "our".
Personal life
According to a February 2015 article in The Easterner, Dolezal said she had suffered from cervical cancer in 2006, but had recovered by 2008. Dolezal's brother, Ezra Dolezal, has stated that he does not believe this to be true.
She has also stated that she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In October 2016, Dolezal legally changed her name to a Nigerian phrase that means "gift of God". She later clarified that she still intends to use the name Rachel Dolezal "as her public persona", but that she changed her name to have a better chance of landing work.
Welfare fraud
In February 2017, Dolezal was receiving food stamps. She said she was on the brink of homelessness and unable to find employment.
In May 2018, Dolezal was charged with second-degree perjury and felony theft by welfare fraud by the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. The charges were filed after it was revealed that she had received $8,847 in food and childcare assistance between August 2015 and December 2017. During that period, she had received tens of thousands of dollars in unreported income, but had told the state that her income was less than $500 per month. State investigators discovered that, after her book was published, approximately $83,924 had been deposited into her bank account in monthly installments between August 2015 and September 2017. According to the Spokane County prosecutor's office, Dolezal could have received a sentence of up to 15 years in prison if she was found guilty. She entered into a diversion agreement on March 25, 2019, agreeing to repay her assistance benefits and complete 120 hours of community service to avoid a trial.
See also
- Cultural appropriation
- Hypatia transracialism controversy
- Marie Sophie Hingst
- Sacheen Littlefeather
- Andrea Smith
- Martina Big
- Jessica Krug
- Racial misrepresentation
