Since the milestone election of Barack Hussein Obama on November 4, 2008, some have wondered whether the United States can now be considered a post-racial nation. According to this book's contributors, a more nuanced and contemporary analysis and measurement of racial attitudes undercuts this assumption. Despite the election of the first black President and rise of his family as perhaps the most widely recognized family in the world, race remains a salient issue—particularly in the United States. Looking beyond public behaviors and how people describe their own attitudes, the contributors draw ... More

Since the milestone election of Barack Hussein Obama on November 4, 2008, some have wondered whether the United States can now be considered a post-racial nation. According to this book's contributors, a more nuanced and contemporary analysis and measurement of racial attitudes undercuts this assumption. Despite the election of the first black President and rise of his family as perhaps the most widely recognized family in the world, race remains a salient issue—particularly in the United States. Looking beyond public behaviors and how people describe their own attitudes, the contributors draw from the latest research to show how, despite the Obama family's rapid rise to national prominence, many Americans continue to harbor unconscious, anti-black biases. Nonetheless, the prominence of the Obamas on the world stage and the image they project may hasten the day when America is indeed post-racial, even at the implicit level.