Between the Margins: Biracial Identity Development in a Nation Divided by the Color Line

The legacy of slavery that included all individuals of African heritage to identify as Black has contributed to centuries of misinformation about the unique experiences of many Black/White biracial individuals. Initial models depicting biracial identity development focused on marginalization and deficit while overlooking the relative privilege many Black/White biracial individuals experienced. As the biracial and multiracial population has grown significantly in the latter half of the 20th century, social scientists have attempted to create a biracial identity development model that focuses on the unique experiences of these individuals. The purpose of this thesis is to provide historical background for the experiences of Black/White biracial Americans and to examine current psychological models depicting to the experiences of this population using a heuristic approach to qualitative research. This thesis also addresses Black/White biracial identities as a metaphor for the transcendent function, a concept integral to the field of depth psychology