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The use of racial and ethnic concepts to include or exclude others is often coupled with the use of these concepts to describe and define oneself. For most children, racial and/or ethnic identity is an important aspect of themselves, and they demonstrate this in insightful ways in important social contexts.

Renee (4.5: White), a very pale little girl, has been to the beach over the weekend and comes to school noticeably tanned. Linda (4: White) and Erinne (5: biracial) engage her in an intense conversation. They discuss whether her skin would stay that color or get darker until she became, as Linda says, an African American, like Charles (another child). Renee denies she could become Black, but this new idea, planted in her head by interaction with the other children, distresses her. On her own initiative, she discusses the possibility with Debi and her mother, both of whom tell her the darker color is temporary.

Renee was unconvinced and commented on her racial identity for weeks. She brought up the issue with other children in many contexts. This linking of skin color with racial identity is found in much traditional literature on children’s racial understandings (Clark and Clark 1940). But this racial marking was more than a fleeting interest, unlike the interest mainstream cognitive theorists might predict for such a young child. Renee reframed the meaning of skin color by questioning others on their thoughts and comparing her skin to others’.

Corinne (4: African/White) displays an ability to create meaning by drawing from her personal world. Corinne’s mother is Black and is from an African country; her father is a White American. Corinne speaks French and English and is curious about everything at the center. She is a leader and often initiates activities with other children. Most children defer to her. One day Corinne is examining a rabbit cage on the playground. A teacher is cleaning out the cage and six baby bunnies are temporarily housed in an aluminum bucket that Corinne is holding. Three bunnies are white, two are black, and one is spotted black and white.

As Corinne is sitting at a table, Sarah (4: White) stuck her head into the bucket. Stop that! Corinne orders. Sarah complies and asks, Why do you have the babies? I’m helping Marie [teacher], says Corinne. How many babies are there? Sarah asks Corinne. Six! Corinne announces. Three boys and three girls. How can you tell if they’re boys or girls? Sarah questions. Well, Corinne begins, my daddy is white, so the white ones are boys. My mommy is Black, so the black ones are girls. Sarah counts: That’s only five. The remaining bunny is black and white. Well, that one is like me, so it’s a girl, Corinne explains gently. She picks up the bunny and says, See, this one is both, like me! Sarah then loses interest, and Corinne returns to cooing over the bunnies.

This four-year-old’s explanation incorporates an interesting combination of color, race, and gender. While her causal reasoning was faulty, she constructed what for her was a sophisticated and reasonable view of the bunnies’ sexes. She displayed an understanding of the idea that an offspring’s color reflects the colors of its parents, a knowledge grounded in her experience as a biracial child. Strayer (1986) underscores how children develop appropriate attributions regarding situational determinants. Corinne’s use of parental gender to explain the unknown gender of the bunnies was an appropriate explanation of how bunnies got certain colors. Skin color was a salient part of her identity, and it was reasonable in her social world to assume that it would be salient for the identity of others, even animals….

In another setting, Corinne (4: African/White) provides an example of the complexity of young children’s racial understandings: She refines the nature of racial identity during a handpainting activity. The children have taken a field trip and are asked to make a thank-you poster for their host, a poster constructed of a large sheet of paper featuring handprints of the children. Children are asked by the teacher to choose a color that “looks just like you do.” The paints are known as “People Colors,” and are common at daycare centers concerned with diversity issues. The activity was designed to increase appreciation of differences in color among the children (Derman-Sparks 1989).

The six paints ranged from dark brown to pale pink. The handprint poster activity is familiar to the children, and the teacher asks Debi to help. Debi accepts but keeps her involvement to a minimum. Several children wait in line to participate in this desirable activity. Each chooses paint according to the teacher’s criterion, has Debi apply the paint to the palm of one hand, and then presses the painted hand onto the poster. Debi then writes the child’s name next to the handprint. Some children point out how closely the paint matches their skin color or ask Debi if she thought the choice was “right.”

Corinne approaches the table, and Debi says, OK, which color is the most like you? Which color matches your skin? Corinne looks over the bottles carefully and chooses pale brown. This one for one hand, she replies, continuing to scan the bottles, and this one for the other hand, she concludes, choosing a second, dark brown color. When Debi asks if that color matches her skin, Corinne calmly replies, I have two colors in my skin. Debi smiles and paints one of her palms pale brown and the other dark brown. Corinne places both hands on the poster, making two prints. Debi then writes Corinne’s name between the two handprints. Perfect! Corinne says.

This four-year-old chose appropriately for her understanding of the situation. That the paints she picked did not exactly match her skin color was not important to her because she was thinking in terms of her parents’ different racial identities. Corinne insisted that she be allowed to choose two colors to reflect her biracial origin. For her, choosing two colors is not an example of cognitive confusion or inconsistency (as a mainstream analysis might see it), but rather her innovative way of recognizing that her mother is dark brown (“Black”) and her father is pale brown (“White”). These examples show that children’s abilities exceed what would be predicted from the mainstream research perspective.