Adam P. Bailey '01, who is part Oklahoma Choctaw and part white, says he has never been torn about his identity but that people often don't realize that he is part Native American.

"The question arises when other people come into the situation," he says. "My identity is not what other people see, I guess."

The "one-drop rule" has long been an issue for mixed-race people. This convention refers to the belief that if a person has a single black ancestor, he or she is black, according to Appiah.

"As long as I've been alive, I've always been black," says Brown who is from Kentucky. Brown's father is black and his mother is white.

"No matter what percentage you are black, you're always looked at as black," says Stephanie N. Ajudua '00, whose father is Nigerian and whose mother if Ukranian. She says she feels society wants her to deny or suppress her mother's side of her identity.

"If I don't, I'm a sell-out to the black community," she says. "I don't think that's fair."

"If you look a certain way, you don't have much choice," says Appiah, adding that it won't help to say "No, no, I'm mixed-race!" if someone is chasing you in the street because you are black.

"There's been an increase in the number of people who want to resist the one-drop rule," Appiah says, pointing to people like golf star Tiger Woods, who says he shouldn't be defined by only one race.