Rachel Dolezal facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rachel Dolezal
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Dolezal at a rally in 2015
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| Born |
Rachel Anne Dolezal
November 12, 1977 Lincoln County, Montana, U.S.
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| Other names |
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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. She became well-known for saying she was a black woman, even though her parents are white.
Dolezal was the president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington. She held this role from 2014 until June 2015. She resigned after people started questioning her racial identity. Her parents publicly stated that she was pretending to be black but was actually white. This happened after Dolezal had told police and news reporters that she was a victim of race-related hate crimes. However, police investigations did not support her claims. Dolezal had also stated on an application that she was mixed-race. She also falsely claimed that an African-American man was her father and that her brother was her son.
After this controversy, Dolezal lost her job as an instructor at Eastern Washington University. She also lost her position as chair of the Police Ombudsman Commission in Spokane due to "a pattern of misconduct." In 2015, Dolezal admitted she was "born white to white parents." However, she still said she felt like she was black. This situation led to a big discussion in the United States about racial identity. Some people said Dolezal was being dishonest and taking on a culture that wasn't hers. Dolezal, however, said her identity was real. In 2017, she wrote a book about her racial identity called In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Rachel Dolezal was born in Lincoln County, Montana, on November 12, 1977. Her parents, Ruthanne and Lawrence "Larry" Dolezal, are white. They are mostly of German, Czech, and Swedish background. Rachel was born with blue eyes, blonde hair, and straight hair. Her parents got married in 1974. The family name Dolezal comes from Czech origins.
Rachel has an older brother, Joshua Dolezal, who is an English professor. When Rachel was a teenager, her parents adopted three African-American children and one Haitian child.
Dolezal has said that she grew up in a tipi and that her family hunted for their food. Her mother said that she and Rachel's father only lived in a tipi briefly in 1974, before Rachel was born. Her mother said Rachel's claims were not true. From 2002 to 2006, her parents and siblings lived in South Africa as Christian missionaries. Dolezal claimed she lived in South Africa as a child, but her family disagrees.
Dolezal grew up in Troy in the Pentecostal faith. She has said that her parents were often harsh with her. She said she was taught that "everything that came naturally, instinctively was wrong."
Dolezal was taught at home through a program called Christian Liberty Academy CLASS. She had excellent grades and graduated in 1996. She won a scholarship for college for her art. In 1998, she showed artworks at Spokane's annual Juneteenth celebration. Her art showed African-American themes.
After high school, Dolezal went to Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi. She earned her bachelor's degree in 2000. Then she went to Howard University, which is a historically black college in Washington, D.C.. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Howard in 2002. Her art project at Howard was a series of paintings from the viewpoint of a black man.
In 2000, Dolezal married Kevin Moore, a black man. They divorced in 2004. Dolezal and Moore have a son together.
In 2010, Dolezal became the legal guardian of her 16-year-old brother, Izaiah Dolezal. Izaiah wanted to be independent because he said his parents were very strict. His other brother, Ezra Dolezal, later said their parents were strict but denied some of the harsher claims.
Dolezal had another son in February 2016.
Lawsuit Against Howard University
In 2002, Dolezal sued Howard University. She claimed she was treated unfairly because she was a white woman. She said she was denied money for school and teaching jobs. She also claimed her artwork was removed from an exhibition because the university preferred African-American students. She did not win the lawsuit.
Career and Activism
Artistic Work
Dolezal created a sculpture called "Triumph of the Human Spirit." It was placed in downtown Spokane in 2005. It was later sold to help the Human Rights Education Institute.
In 2007, Dolezal worked with children to create art for a "Rights of the Child" exhibit. This was for the Human Rights Education Institute.
Art Plagiarism Claims
In June 2015, some art critics said Dolezal had copied another artist's work. They said her painting, The Shape of Our Kind, looked almost exactly like The Slave Ship by J. M. W. Turner, painted in 1840. Dolezal did not give credit to Turner.
Civil Rights Work
Human Rights Institute
In July 2010, Dolezal left her job as education director at the Human Rights Institute in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. She had worked there for two years. Dolezal said she was forced to leave because the board did not want to hire her as the main director.
NAACP Leadership
Dolezal was chosen as president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP in 2014. The NAACP is a very important civil rights organization. She was known for making the chapter more active during her time there. She resigned from this role on June 15, 2015, after the questions about her racial identity became public.
Police Ombudsman Commission
In May 2014, Dolezal applied to be the chair of the Office of the Police Ombudsman Commission in Spokane. This group helps oversee the police. On her application, she said she had several ethnic backgrounds, including black. In June 2015, the city started an investigation into whether her application was truthful. On June 17, 2015, the investigation found that she had acted improperly. It said she had broken rules and misused her power. The report also mentioned "a pattern of misconduct." Dolezal was asked to resign. On June 18, 2015, the Spokane City Council voted to remove her from her position.
Teaching and Writing
In 2015, Eastern Washington University stated that Rachel Dolezal had been hired part-time since 2010. She taught in the Africana Education program. She taught classes like "The Black Woman's Struggle" and "African and African American Art History." On June 15, 2015, the university announced that Dolezal was "no longer an employee." Even though she was not a full professor, she used the title "professor" on some websites.
Dolezal also wrote articles for The Inlander, a local newspaper in Spokane.
In March 2017, Dolezal released her book, In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World.
Later, Dolezal worked as a public school teacher in Tucson, Arizona. In February 2024, Dolezal was fired for breaking the school district's social media rules.
Other Work
Dolezal has also worked as a hair stylist, focusing on weaves and braids. She also creates and sells her own artwork. She has said that she used to work as a sushi chef.
Racial Identity and Public Discussion
Background
Rachel Dolezal's family background is from Northern and Central Europe. Her father has said their family is mostly European with "a small amount of American Indian."
Her brother Ezra said that Dolezal started changing her appearance around 2009. She began to darken her skin and perm her hair around 2011. When Ezra lived with her in 2012, she told him that people in Spokane thought she was black and asked him not to reveal her secret.
Dolezal has claimed to be a victim of race-related harassment. She reported several incidents to the police in Idaho and Washington. For example, she said a noose was left on her porch in 2009. She also claimed she received a hate mail package at her NAACP post office box. However, police investigations did not lead to any arrests or charges. For the hate mail package, detectives noted it had no postage stamps, suggesting it was placed in the box by someone with a key.
Dolezal's uncle, Dan Dolezal, said his niece first claimed a black friend, Albert Wilkerson, was her real father around 2012 or 2013. Dolezal later said she met Wilkerson in Idaho and considered him her "dad." Her mother said she had never met Albert Wilkerson.
In her 2014 application for the Police Ombudsman Commission, Dolezal identified herself as having several ethnic backgrounds, including black. In an article she wrote in March 2015, she included herself when talking about black women.
The Controversy
On June 10, 2015, a TV reporter asked Dolezal about a social media post where she called Albert Wilkerson her dad. The reporter asked if he was her father and if she was African-American. Dolezal seemed uncomfortable and walked away from the interview.
The next day, a newspaper article titled "Black Like Me?" was published. It reported that Dolezal had made claims about her race that her biological parents disagreed with. The article also mentioned her past claims of hate crimes and other statements. Her mother was quoted saying some of Dolezal's claims were "very false and malicious."
News about Dolezal's background quickly became a national story. Reporters found photos of Dolezal's actual white parents and her birth certificate.
Public Reactions
After the news broke, the NAACP first supported Dolezal. However, many people called for her to resign. She stepped down from her NAACP role on June 15, 2015.
The investigation into her behavior as chair of the Police Ombudsman Commission found she had shown "a pattern of misconduct." The Spokane City Council voted to remove her on June 18, 2015.
The newspaper The Inlander, where Dolezal had written articles, said they would no longer work with her. They felt "manipulated and deceived."
The news about Dolezal caused many different reactions. Some people said she was being dishonest and taking on a culture that wasn't hers. Others said her identity should be respected. A colleague from Eastern Washington University believed Dolezal felt black inside and was trying to show that on the outside. Another colleague from the NAACP said her race didn't matter as much as her work for social justice.
Some experts debated whether Dolezal's identity could be compared to a person who is transgender. Others said her actions were like blackface, which is a very offensive way for white people to pretend to be black.
Dolezal's Responses
Dolezal has always said that her self-identification as black is real, even though her family background is not black.
On June 15, 2015, Dolezal said that "challenging the construct of race is at the core of evolving human consciousness." The next day, she told a TV show host that she was first called "transracial" in articles about her work and chose not to correct it. She also said her way of presenting herself was "not some freak... mockery blackface performance." Later, she said she never claimed to be "transracial," a term often used for children adopted into a different race. In 2017, Dolezal said she identified as "trans-black."
In a November 2, 2015, interview, Dolezal publicly said for the first time that she was "biologically born white to white parents." However, she still said she identified as black.
In a February 2017 interview, Dolezal explained that she felt race was more flexible than gender because race is a social idea. She said, "I feel that I was born with the essential essence of who I am, whether it matches my anatomy and complexion or not... whiteness has always felt foreign to me." She added, "I didn't choose to feel this way or be this way, I just am."
Personal Life
Dolezal has stated that she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In October 2016, Dolezal legally changed her name to a Nigerian phrase meaning "gift of God." She said she still planned to use Rachel Dolezal as her public name. She changed her legal name to have a better chance of finding work.
Images for kids
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Dolezal (third from right, holding the sign) before the Spokane NAACP march on Martin Luther King Day in January 2015.
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Dolezal (fourth from right) while marching with NAACP activists in Spokane, Washington and holding a sign reading "Martin's dream is forever!" on Martin Luther King Day in January 2015.
See also
- Cultural appropriation
- Sacheen Littlefeather
- Racial misrepresentation
