Main content
Civil Rights Activist - Rachel Dolezal
Is our racial identity something we can define for ourselves?
As part of the BBC's identity season, Stephen Sackur talks to Rachel Dolezal, the ostensibly black American human rights activist whose life unravelled last year when it turned out that she was the daughter of white parents. So what gives us our sense of who we are? Our upbringing and our communities both have a huge impact, but what about the most basic pillars of identity that we tend to regard as immutable? Is our racial identity something we can define for ourselves?
(Photo: Rachel Dolezal in the Hardtalk studio)
Last on
Wed 27 Apr 201621:06GMT
BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & News Internet
Broadcasts
- Wed 27 Apr 201601:06GMTBBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean
- Wed 27 Apr 201602:06GMTBBC World Service Online & UK DAB/Freeview only
- Wed 27 Apr 201603:06GMTBBC World Service East Asia
- Wed 27 Apr 201604:06GMTBBC World Service Australasia & South Asia only
- Wed 27 Apr 201614:06GMTBBC World Service except News Internet
- Wed 27 Apr 201621:06GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & News Internet
Podcast
![]()
The Interview
Conversations with people shaping our world. The best interviews from the BBC

