This revised, expanded version of an article originally published in American Genealogy Magazine, discusses the many theories about the origin of the Black Dutch (including claims that have been dismissed), the term's use as a derogative, and conclusions. Illustrated with rare pictures, In Search of the Black Dutch identifies 154 American families reporting Black Dutch ancestry.

Francio Guadeloupe has lived in both the Dutch Antilles and the Netherlands. An anthropologist by vocation, he is a keen observer by honed habit. In his new book, he wields both personal and anthropological observations. Simultaneously memoir and astute exploration, Black Man in the Netherlands charts Guadeloupe’s coming of age and adulthood in a Dutch world and movingly makes a global contribution to the understanding of anti-Black racism. Guadeloupe identifies the intersections among urban popular culture, racism, and multiculturalism in youth culture in the Netherlands and the wider Dutch Kingdom. He probes the degrees to which traditional ethnic division collapses before a rising Dutch polyethnicity. What comes to light, given the ethnic multiplicity that Afro-Antilleans live, is their extraordinarily successful work in forging an anti-racist Dutch identity via urban popular culture. This alternative way of being Dutch welcomes the Black experience as global and increasingly local Black artists find fame and even idolization. Black Man in the Netherlands is a vivid extension of renowned critical race studies by such Marxist theorists as Achille Mbembe, Paul Gilroy, Stuart Hall, and C. L. R. James, and it bears a palpable connection to such Black Atlantic artists as Peter Tosh, Juan Luis Guerra, and KRS-One. Guadeloupe explores the complexities of Black life in the Netherlands and shows that within their means, Afro-Antilleans often effectively contest Dutch racism in civic and work life.

Blacks in the Dutch World examines the interaction between Black history and Dutch history to gain an understanding of the historical development of racial attitudes. Allison Blakely reveals cracks in the self-image and reputation of Dutch society as a haven for those escaping intolerance. Pervasive images of "the Moor" and "the noble savage" in Dutch art and popular culture; "Black Pete," servant to Santa Claus in Dutch Christmas tradition: these and many other cultural artifacts reflect the racial stereotyping of Blacks that existed in the Dutch world through slavery, servitude, and freedom. Blakely weighs the proposition that factors unique to the modern period have contributed to the creation of this racial imagery in Dutch folklore, art, literature, and religion. By viewing evolving images of Blacks against the backdrop of Western expansion, the agricultural, scientific, and industrial revolutions, and the advent of modern secular doctrines, Blakely discovers that humanism and liberalism, hallmarks of Dutch society since medieval times, have been imperfect against race bias. Blacks in the Dutch World confirms that the existence of color prejudice in a predominantly "white" society does not depend on the presence of racial conflict or even a significant "colored" population. The origins are related to the complex interaction of evolving social, cultural, and economic phenomena.

In the Netherlands, a small group of biracial citizens has entered its eighth decade of lives that have been often puzzling and difficult, but which offer a unique insight into the history of race relations in America. Though their African American fathers had brought liberation from Nazi tyranny at the end of World War II, they were in a segregated American military derived from a racially divided American society. Decades later, some of their children could finally know of a father's identity and the life he had led after the war. Just one would be able to find an embrace in his arms, and just one would arrive at her father's American grave after 73 years. But they could now understand their own Dutch lives in the context of their fathers' lives in America.

It began in the 1800s. In the Texas town of Mineral Wells, people drinking the strange-tasting water claimed to be cured of insanity, rheumatism, and terminal illness. Discovery of the phenomenon beguiled thousands of tourists, curiosity seekers, and the afflicted who desperately sought cures. Yet, the town that promoted its “crazy water” attracted eccentric citizens, including wealthy Will and Anna Johnson, who, unable to cope with the deaths of their children, spared no expense in preserving the bodies for entombment in a mausoleum; paperclip inventor David Galbraith, the builder of a house in the shape of a honeycomb; and influential mortician Bob Beetham, who gained power by keeping the town’s secrets. In Texas Gothic, author James Pylant also uncovers the mysterious life of beautiful and ambitious Mineral Wells resident Corinne Griffith. After becoming a famous star of the silent screen and one of America’s richest women, she made a shocking courtroom claim that she was not the “real” Corinne Griffith. Under the looming 14-story Baker Hotel, Mineral Wells thrived with visits from movie stars; yet, the “crazy water” beckoned exploiters and predators. Texas Gothic reveals true tales of the town’s forgotten past: murder, white slavery, prostitution, and mysterious deaths.

In White Innocence Gloria Wekker explores a central paradox of Dutch culture: the passionate denial of racial discrimination and colonial violence coexisting alongside aggressive racism and xenophobia. Accessing a cultural archive built over 400 years of Dutch colonial rule, Wekker fundamentally challenges Dutch racial exceptionalism by undermining the dominant narrative of the Netherlands as a "gentle" and "ethical" nation. Wekker analyzes the Dutch media's portrayal of black women and men, the failure to grasp race in the Dutch academy, contemporary conservative politics (including gay politicians espousing anti-immigrant rhetoric), and the controversy surrounding the folkloric character Black Pete, showing how the denial of racism and the expression of innocence safeguards white privilege. Wekker uncovers the postcolonial legacy of race and its role in shaping the white Dutch self, presenting the contested, persistent legacy of racism in the country.

Dutch Racism is the first comprehensive study of its kind. The approach is unique, not comparative but relational, in unraveling the legacy of racism in the Netherlands and the (former) colonies. Authors contribute to identifying the complex ways in which racism operates in and beyond the national borders, shaped by European and global influences, and intersecting with other systems of domination. Contrary to common sense beliefs it appears that old-fashioned biological notions of “race” never disappeared. At the same time the Netherlands echoes, if not leads, a wider European trend, where offensive statements about Muslims are an everyday phenomenon. Dutch Racism challenges readers to question what happens when the moral rejection of racism looses ground. The volume captures the layered nature of Dutch racism through a plurality of registers, methods, and disciplinary approaches: from sociology and history to literary analysis, art history and psychoanalysis, all different elements competing for relevance, truth value, and explanatory power. This range of voices and visions offers illuminating insights in the two closely related questions that organize this book: what factors contribute to the complexity of Dutch racism? And why is the concept of racism so intensely contested? The volume will speak to audiences across the humanities and social sciences and can be used as textbook in undergraduate as well as graduate courses. Philomena Essed is professor of Critical Race, Gender and Leadership studies, Antioch University (USA), PhD in Leadership and Change Program. Her books and edited volumes include Everyday Racism; Understanding Everyday Racism, Race Critical Theories; A Companion to Gender Studies (“outstanding” 2005 CHOICE award); and, Clones, Fakes and Posthumans: Cultures of Replication. Isabel Hoving is diversity officer at the Leiden University and affiliated with the Department of Film and Literary Studies of Leiden University. Her books include In Praise of New Travellers, Veranderingen van het alledaagse, and several other volumes on migration, Caribbean literatures, African literature and art. In addition to her academic work, she is an awarded youth writer.