Mixed Chicks Chat

Episode 248 : Michael Durrow Talks about His Mixed Experience

We were excited to talk with Michael (Micro) Durrow (pictured on the right) about his Mixed experience.  Yes, the brother of co-host Heidi, opens up about growing up African-American and Danish!

Multiracial Movement Movers and Shakers

Question: Who spearheaded the movement to change the racial designations on Census 2000?

Answer: Ramona Douglass.  Co-founder of the Association of MultiEthnic Americans (AMEA), Ms. Douglass served as the group's vice-president  and as its president.  In 1995, she was appointed to the 2000 Census Advisory Committee representing multiracial individuals and families including transracial adoptees.  Quoting from the Loving Decision Conference 2007 program: "It is in [her position on the Advisory Committee] that Ms. Douglass's legacy made its most influential mark.  Due to Ramona's willpower, conviction and powerful voice, she helped change the 2000 census which allowed--for the first time in U.S. history--for a "mark all that apply" option for those who wished to self-identify themselves and/or their children with all of their heritages."  Sadly, Ms. Douglass died last year shortly before the Loving Decision Conference 2007 after a battle with cancer.

Mixed Chicks Chat Trivia Question #3

Question: Who is the white father of the first biracial person depicted on U.S. currency?

Answer: We're talking about the dollar coin featuring Sacajewa, the teenaged Shoshane Indian who guided Lewis & Clark from the Great Plains to the Pacific Ocean.  On the coin, Sacajewa carries her baby, Jean Baptiste, on her back.  The father of Jean Baptiste, the first biracial person depicted on U.S. currency, (and we say first because the next U.S. President will show up on currency at some point), was Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian. 

Mixed Chicks Chat Trivia Question #2

QUESTION: Barack Obama is not the first biracial person elected to the United States Senate.  Who was the first?  What was his name and when did he serve?

You can find the answer here.

Mixed Chicks Chat Trivia Question: Episode 35

Question: What's the connection between a millionaire cosmetics company founder and the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

Answer: Samuel B. Fuller was an African American entrepreneur who started his entrepreneurial career with a $25-loan.  He grew a door-to-door soap sales business into a multi-million dollar corporation, Fuller Products.  His company sold a diverse line of cosmetics , hair care and hosiery.  In the 1950s, he bought a popular "white" Southern cosmetics company secretly.  When word got out, the White Citizens Councils organized a boycott of Fuller's product line.  During the 1950s, Fuller was a leading black Republican, but he promoted civil rights.  He tried to organize a cooperative of business leaders to buy the Montgomery bus company.  Martin Luther King, Jr. was apparently skeptical of the idea, and the group was unable to raise enough money.  In 1984, Fuller Products was purchased by Dudley.  Fuller died of kidney failure in 1988.