William E. Cross Jr. facts for kids

William Edward Cross Jr. (born February 6, 1940 – died December 5, 2024) was an important thinker and researcher. He studied how people develop their ethnic identity, especially Black identity.

He is most famous for his nigrescence model. This model, first shared in 1971, explains the process of becoming Black. His book, Shades of Black, published in 1991, also became very well known. Cross's model built on the work of earlier Black psychologists. It created a strong base for understanding racial and ethnic identity in psychology. His ideas have helped people understand both individual and group social change. Throughout his career, Cross focused on how racial and ethnic identity forms. He also looked at how Western ideas sometimes negatively affected the minds of Black Americans. He believed in the need for "psychological liberation" or mental freedom, even when people faced unfair treatment.

Biography

William "Bill" Cross was born in Evanston, Illinois. His parents were Bill and Margaret Cross. He went to McCosh Elementary School in Chicago. In 1959, he graduated from Evanston Township High School (ETHS) in Evanston. He was the only one of his siblings to go to college.

Early Life and Education

Cross earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Denver in 1963. While there, he was president of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity chapter. He met Badi Foster, who became his best friend and mentor. During this time, Cross deeply questioned his religious beliefs. He thought about historical injustices like slavery and the Holocaust. These thoughts later influenced his work, especially the "Immersion-Emersion" stage of his model.

Cross also studied clinical psychology at Roosevelt University in Chicago. He learned about the different steps in therapy. Even though he didn't finish his master's degree, this idea of "process and stages" helped shape his later work.

The 1960s and Black Identity

The 1960s was a time of strong Black nationalism and the Black Power Movement. This period encouraged Black professionals to question the White-dominated fields they worked in. In 1968, the Association of Black Psychologists (ABP) was founded. Its members felt they were "Black people first and psychologists second."

A major event for Cross was the death of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. After this, Cross became deeply involved in the Black Consciousness Movement. This movement greatly influenced his nigrescence theory. His theory explained how different identities formed and changed during social movements.

During the Vietnam War, Cross directed the West Side Service Center (WSSC) in Evanston, Illinois. With the Black Power Movement growing, Cross created programs for Evanston's youth. He often attended meetings of the OBAC (Organization of Black American Culture). He learned the importance of understanding culture, not just race. This idea became key to his model of race and cultural identity. He also learned about identity "conversion" from his interactions with Jimmy Reid. Reid organized a local Black Panther group. Cross saw that Black identity change happened across all social classes. He realized that a strong identity also needed real-world improvements, or people would struggle just to get by. Cross felt his role at the WSSC was like his own "Immersion-Emersion" experience.

Princeton and the Nigrescence Model

In 1969, Cross became an assistant to the Chair of Afro-American Studies at Princeton University. His friend Badi Foster helped him connect psychology with African American Studies. Foster and others at Princeton encouraged Cross to write about his ideas. He believed Black men and women went through stages, including anger, which were not permanent identities.

At Princeton, Cross met Dawn Monique Jackson, who worked in admissions. They later married. They faced challenges in their marriage but later reunited. They were married for 40 years. Their daughter, Tuere Binta Cross, is a social worker in Denver.

While at Princeton, Cross met William S. Hall, a respected Black psychologist. Hall helped Cross find ways to test his identity model. The questions they created for an experiment later influenced the first version of the Racial Identity Attitude Scale (RIAS). Cross's paper, "The Negro-to-Black Conversion Experience: Toward a Psychology of Black Liberation," was published in the July 1971 issue of Black World. In 1972, Bill Hall published the results of his study, which became known as the Hall-Cross Model. Cross finished his doctoral studies in psychology at Princeton University in 1976.

Cornell and Shades of Black

In 1973, Cross became an assistant professor at Cornell University. He taught Black studies and psychology. He started as a "social experimental psychologist" but became a "cultural psychologist" after 21 years. Cross explained that as a cultural psychologist, he studied how culture, history, and money affect human development. He especially focused on how Black identity develops.

In 1991, Cross published Shades of Black. This book was inspired by his time at the Africana Center at Cornell. Henry Louis Gates Jr. encouraged him to write it. Robert L. Harris introduced him to Janet M. Francendese, an editor. Cross wrote this book to change how Black psychology was viewed. He wanted to move away from ideas of "self-hatred" and focus on how varied Black identity truly is. He showed that there isn't just one way to be Black. Through this work, Cross found some weaknesses in his first Nigrescence Model. So, the second part of Shades of Black included a new version of his 1971 model.

Later Career and Contributions

Cross left Cornell in 1994 for Pennsylvania State University. There, his graduate student Peony Fhagen-Smith helped expand his ideas to cover a person's whole life. More recently, his daughter, Tuere Cross, has continued this research. At Penn State, Cross led a research group that tested the Cross-Racial-Identity-Scale (CRIS). The CRIS is now one of the most used tools to measure social identity. It helps understand how identity concepts work.

In 2000, Cross moved to the City University of New York (CUNY). He became a professor emeritus at CUNY in 2008. He continued to advise doctoral students there.

Cross also worked at the University of Nevada–Las Vegas. After retiring, he and his wife moved to Colorado. He didn't stay retired for long. He became the Coordinator for the Higher Education Program at the University of Denver. He also served as President-Elect of Division 45 of the American Psychological Association. This group studies ethnic minority issues. Cross aimed to encourage research and apply psychology to these issues. He focused on topics like the large number of people of color in prison and the experiences of LGBT people of color.

Cross passed away on December 5, 2024, in Denver, Colorado.

Writings

The Negro-to-Black Conversion Experience (1971)

Cross described how Black identity changes through a five-stage theory. He called this theory Nigrescence, which means "the process of becoming Black." The five stages are:

1. Pre-encounter
2. Encounter
3. Immersion/Emersion
4. Internalization
5. Internalization-Commitment

Pre-encounter Stage

The pre-encounter stage describes a person's identity before they have a major experience related to race. In this stage, a person might not be fully aware of their race or the social meanings that come with it. They might see the world in a way that doesn't focus on race.

Encounter Stage

In the encounter stage, a person has an experience that suddenly makes them aware of race. This is often an "awakening" to racial consciousness. This experience can make the person open to seeing the world in a new, racialized way. For example, it might be the first time a child realizes they are treated differently because of their skin color.

Immersion/Emersion Stage

The third stage, immersion-emersion, is when a person feels like they have "just discovered Blackness." They might strongly want to "prove they are Black" and feel proud of their Black identity. At the same time, they might criticize White culture. They often spend more time with people from their own ethnic group and less with others. This stage often starts with a deep dive into Black culture. Later, the intense emotional reactions calm down. This allows for a more thoughtful way of seeing the world.

Internalization Stage

The internalization stage is when a person feels comfortable rejoining society. They have a strong sense of their own racial or ethnic identity. This allows them to build relationships with people from other racial groups. In this stage, they can start to make sense of their old worldview and their new one. Before this stage, a person might feel unsure about their identity. For example, a Black person might worry if they are "Black enough." This worry can sometimes lead to rejecting other racial groups. But in this stage, they move towards a positive view of Black ideas and actions.

Internalization-Commitment Stage

The final stage, internalization-commitment, means a person is comfortable with their own racial identity and with the identities of others. This stage shows the difference between people who have accepted their new identity but stop working for social change, and those who continue to work for social change. For a successful journey through this stage, a person fully embraces their new identity. They also take part in activities that promote fairness and justice for their group.

It's important to know that people might revisit different stages throughout their lives. This isn't going backward. It's often part of a deeper process of learning new things and rethinking ideas from a more mature point of view.

Shades of Black (1991)

In Shades of Black, published in 1991, Cross challenged two main ideas. First, he argued that "self-hatred" was not the main feeling in Black identity. Second, he showed that it's not possible to describe Black identity as one single, predictable thing.

He looked closely at many writings about Black identity from 1936 to 1967. He found two common mistakes in these writings. Authors often made conclusions about adults based on studies of young children. Also, they used tests that measured social attitudes but then said the results showed things about personality, like self-esteem or self-hatred.

Shades of Black highlighted important ideas about mental health and strength that researchers often ignored. These researchers were too focused on finding problems in Black people. This book was key in changing psychology's focus. It moved from looking at "Black problems" to a more "normal and positive" understanding of Black psychology. It did this with clear, logical, and proven arguments.

The book also explored the Black Power Movement and how identities changed during this time. Cross showed that working and middle-class Black families had historically shown strong mental health. They had qualities that helped them stay positive even during political and social struggles. He also showed that there are many different ways of thinking and seeing oneself. This means there are endless paths to happiness. It proved that there isn't one single definition of what it means to be Black. He even suggested that for some Black people, their racial identity might not be important to their daily life, even though it's very important for many others. The later part of Shades of Black updated Cross's original Nigrescence Model from 1971. He made these changes after finding weaknesses in his first model while writing the book.

Validating the Cross Racial Identity Scale (2002)

In 2002, Cross and his colleagues confirmed that the Cross Racial Identity Scale (CRIS) was a good and reliable tool. They did two studies with African American college students. The CRIS, first described in 2000, helps measure different parts of racial identity. Their studies showed that the CRIS was very reliable and worked well.

Nigrescence and Ego Identity Development (1996)

This study expanded Cross's Black identity development model to cover a person's entire life. Cross and Peony Fhagen-Smith looked at the Nigrescence model alongside Erik Erikson's model of adolescent development. They found that the two models needed to be separate because they sometimes described similar groups of people.

The key difference was how central race or ethnicity was to a person's identity. People who made their race or ethnicity a main part of who they are might be better described by the Nigrescence model. Those who didn't focus on ethnic identity might be better described by Erikson's model. This work showed the connection between Nigrescence and how a person's self-concept develops. It also suggested that Nigrescence could begin as early as adolescence or after a person's basic adult identity has formed.

Awards and Recognition

William E. Cross Jr. received the 2009 Annual Social Justice Action Award from Teachers College, Columbia University. Georgia Southern University created the Dr. William Cross Jr. Distinguished Lecture Series. This is part of their yearly conference on Cross-Cultural Issues in Counseling and Education.

He was the 2014 President of the American Psychological Association's Division 45. This group is called the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues. He was also a CUNY Professor Emeritus and a Change Agent at Morgridge College of Education.