In relation to the ongoing controversy surrounding former Spokane, Wash., NAACP president Rachel Dolezal, Professor Baz Dreisinger of the English department has been interviewed by several media outlets, including The New York Times, CNN and The Atlantic, about the history of racial appropriation and racial passing. Dreisinger’s book, Near Black: White to Black Passing in American Culture, explores cases from the 1830’s to the present  in which legally white individuals are imagined, by themselves or by others, as passing for black. In reference to the current Dolezal case, Dreisinger told the New York Times that, “It taps into all of these issues around blackface and wearing blackness and that whole cultural legacy, which makes it that much more vile.”

Dreisinger is the Academic Director of John Jay College’s Prison-to-College Pipeline program.  Near Black was published by the University of Massachusetts Press in 2008, and was featured in the New York Times Book Review and on National Public Radio. She is also a journalist and critic, who writes about Caribbean culture, race-related issues and pop culture for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Village Voice, Spin, the Wall Street Journal and NPR, among other outlets. Her current work focuses on prisons, education and restorative justice.

Below is some of recent media coverage featuring Professor Dreisinger.

The New York Times 
“Rachel Dolezal, in Center of Storm, Is Defiant: ‘I Identify as Black’” 
June 16, 2015

CNN 
“Is Black Culture Up for Grabs?” 
June 16, 2015

Christian Science Monitor 
“'I Identify as Black': Historical Precedent for Rachel Dolezal” 
June 16, 2015

Los Angeles Times 
“Rachel Dolezal's Story, a Study of Race and Identity, Gets 'Crazier and Crazier'” 
June 15, 2015

The Atlantic 
“Rachel Dolezal and the History of Passing for Black” 
Q&A with Professor Dreisinger 
June 15, 2015

Vox.com 
“White People Have Been Passing for Black for Centuries. A Historian Explains.”  
Q&A with Professor Dreisinger 
June 15, 2015

The New York Times 
“‘Loving Day,’ by Mat Johnson” 
Sunday Book Review by Baz Dreisinger 
June 1, 2015