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Nkechi Amare Diallo (born Rachel Anne Dolezal; November 12, 1977) is an American former college instructor and activist known for presenting herself as a black woman despite being born to white parents. She is also a former National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter president. Dolezal was president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington, from 2014 until June 2015, when she resigned in the midst of controversy over her racial identity. She was the subject of public scrutiny when her parents publicly stated that she was pretending to be black but was actually white. The statement by Dolezal's parents followed Dolezal's reports to police and local news media that she had been the victim of race-related hate crimes; a police investigation did not support her allegations. Dolezal had also claimed on an application form to be mixed-race and had falsely claimed that an African-American man was her father and that her brother was her son. In the aftermath of the controversy, Dolezal was dismissed from her position as an instructor in Africana studies at Eastern Washington University and was removed from her post as chair of the Police Ombudsman Commission in Spokane over "a pattern of misconduct". In 2015, Dolezal acknowledged that she was "born white to white parents" but maintained that she self-identified as black. The Dolezal controversy fuelled a national debate in the United States about racial identity. Dolezal's critics stated that she committed cultural appropriation and fraud; Dolezal asserted that her self-identification is genuine. In 2017, Dolezal released a memoir on her racial identity titled In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World. Early life, family, and education Dolezal was born in Lincoln County, Montana, on November 12, 1977, to Ruthanne (née Schertel) and Lawrence "Larry" Dolezal, who are white and primarily of German, Czech, and Swedish origin; she was born as a blue-eyed blonde with straight hair. Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal were married in 1974. Rachel's surname is of Czech origin. Dolezal has an older biological brother, Joshua Dolezal, a professor of English at Central College in Iowa who authored a book about their upbringing in Montana. When Dolezal was a teenager, her parents adopted three African-American children and one Haitian child. Dolezal has said she was born and lived in a tipi and that the family had hunted for their food with bow and arrow. She also said that lima beans were used as chess pieces when enjoying family game night. Her mother stated that she and Dolezal's father briefly lived in a tipi in 1974, three years before their daughter was born, and that Dolezal's claims were "totally false". From 2002 to 2006, her parents and siblings lived in South Africa as Christian missionaries. Dolezal said she lived in South Africa as a child, but her family disputes the claim. Dolezal was raised in Troy in the Pentecostal faith. She has stated that her parents frequently abused her. In a 2017 interview, she said she was taught to believe that "everything that came naturally, instinctively was wrong"—a point that was "literally beaten into us". In a 2015 interview, Dolezal said she was "punished by skin complexion" by her mother and "white stepfather", and compared this alleged punishment to the punishment suffered by black slaves. Dolezal was homeschooled via the Christian Liberty Academy CLASS program, achieving a 4.0 grade point average (GPA). She was one of several co-valedictorians upon graduation in 1996. She won a $2,000 scholarship for college awarded by Tandy Leather for her entry in their 1996 Leather Art contest. In 1998, she entered artworks at Spokane's annual Juneteenth celebration; she expressed African-American themes through collages and mixed-media works. Following the completion of high school, Dolezal attended Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi, receiving her bachelor's degree in 2000. She then attended Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, D.C.; she received a Master of Fine Arts, summa cum laude, from Howard in 2002. Her thesis at Howard was a series of paintings presented from the perspective of a black man. Dolezal later said that she was drugged and sexually assaulted by a "trusted mentor" when attending Howard University, and that "suing was nearly impossible". In 2000, Dolezal married Kevin Moore, a black man. Moore, a medical student at Howard University at the time of their marriage, divorced Dolezal in 2004. Dolezal and Moore have a son. In 2010, with the consent of her parents, Dolezal obtained legal guardianship of her 16-year-old brother, Izaiah Dolezal. Izaiah sought to be emancipated after alleging that Larry and Ruthanne not only beat him and his siblings, but also threatened to send them to group homes if they did not obey their rules. Her brother, Ezra Dolezal, later denied Izaiah's accusations in an interview with CNN; however, in an interview with BuzzFeed, he acknowledged that his parents were strict and sometimes used corporal punishment. Dolezal gave birth to another son in February 2016. Lawsuit against Howard University In 2002, Dolezal unsuccessfully sued Howard University for discrimination based on "race, pregnancy, family responsibilities, and gender, as well as retaliation". Her lawsuit alleged that she was denied scholarship funds, a teaching assistant position, and other opportunities because she was a white woman. She also alleged that the removal of her artwork from a student exhibition at Howard in 2001 "was motivated by a discriminatory purpose to favor African-American students" over her. Career Art Dolezal created a fountain sculpture titled "Triumph of the Human Spirit" that consisted of a tall column with troubled, sad figures at its base and dancing, celebrating figures further up the column. It was installed in downtown Spokane in June 2005 and was later auctioned off to benefit the Human Rights Education Institute. In 2007, while working as an art teacher at School Indigo in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Dolezal collaborated with children to make five works for a "Rights of the Child" exhibit by the Human Rights Education Institute. Plagiarism accusations In June 2015, Priscilla Frank at The Huffington Post and Sarah Cascone at Artnet made accusations of plagiarism against Dolezal. A Dolezal painting titled The Shape of Our Kind was alleged to be nearly identical to J. M. W. Turner's 1840 work, The Slave Ship. Frank accused Dolezal of plagiarism for not crediting Turner. Civil rights activism Human Rights Institute A July 2010 newspaper article indicated that Dolezal had stepped down as education director of the Human Rights Institute in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, after having served in that capacity for two years. Dolezal indicated that she was, "for all intents and purposes", forced to resign from the organization after its board declined to hire her as its executive director. NAACP Dolez.... Discover the Rachel Leach popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Rachel Leach books.