What People are Saying About This
Gina M. Samuels
In the fourth installment of In Their Voices, Rhonda M. Roorda delivers the missing voices of black and biracial nonadopted adults on the topic of race, family, identity, and adoption. The transcribed interviews, laid bare without analysis, convey the keen insights of her participants, as well as pieces of her own story. In journeying through the reflections of persons who grew up during the Jim Crow era, the civil rights era, and the post–civil rights era, readers will come to realize that the identity work for any person who is racialized in our society is complex, context-tied, and a lifetime process. This book is not preachy or overly academic, and it is unique for its historically situated organizing of the interviews by generation. Thanks, Rhonda, for keeping the conversation of racial socialization and identity going within and beyond the adoption community!
Julia Scheeres
An important and frank book that deepens the conversation around transracial adoption. Roorda examines the history of transracial adoption in America and the challenges black adoptees face in white households, broaching topics that few dare talk about but many think about. Every transracial adoptive family should have this on their bookshelf.
Betsy Vonk
A straight-forward statement on the problem of developing positive racial identity for transracial adoptees. It provides a clear context for the problem, and a creative response through sixteen interviews with persons who have credibility to speak to the issue.
Phil Bertelsen
At a time when a postracial society remains an elusive fantasy, In Their Voices is indispensable. This book represents the dinner party I wish my parents had thrown—full of interesting African Americans whose wisdom I now know reflects my own experience. Whether formed through adoption or marriage, multiracial families looking for tools to raise healthy children of color will find Roorda's latest book to be a valuable resource.
Randall Kennedy
Roorda has made a major contribution to the study of transracial adoption by introducing into the scholarly discussion the impressions and memories of adoptees and others intimately associated with this important, albeit neglected, facet of American race relations. While forthrightly sharing her own views, she displays an impressive ability to elicit and document a wide array of beliefs and sentiments that have played important roles in shaping the contours of interracial adoption policy. In Their Voices is a fascinating and intelligently edited compilation, one that should receive a broad readership.
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