Talk:Anatole Broyard

Ms. Broyard discovered that her father's ancestry was, in fact, more white than black

There is no such thing, if you are Black you will always genetically be more black since the black gene is the dominant gene. It is prejudice like your writing that keep stories like this hidden. Good Job. 12.161.66.6 (talk) 22:06, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

Incorrect. Parkwells (talk) 00:35, 11 September 2012 (UTC)

There's no such thing as "the black gene" you racist. And "genetically be more black since the black gene is the dominant gene" indicates that you have no idea what "genetically" means and the difference between genotype and phenotype. -- Jibal (talk) 00:03, 6 October 2019 (UTC)

This isn't the case. Melanin, which determines skin color, is determined by four to six genes which operate under incomplete dominance. See the article Human skin color.24.124.64.42 (talk) 08:00, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

I just reread the article by Henry Louis Gates Jr., "White Like Me." According to this source, Broyard was predominantly of black ancestry - Gates consulted legal records in New Orleans (from which his family originated). If this is true, this article may be inaccurate. Aoibheannniamh (talk) 13:36, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

There were disagreements as to how people were categorized. Broyard clearly was of mixed ancestry, but after the US takeover of the Louisiana Territory, the South's binary approach to racial categorization was adopted in Louisiana, so that people with any black ancestry were characterized as black, disregarding whether they also had white ancestry, as did Louisiana Creoles as a group.Parkwells (talk) 00:35, 11 September 2012 (UTC)

"White Like Me" is an ideological polemic, not a reliable factual source. -- Jibal (talk) 00:15, 6 October 2019 (UTC)

Broyard's race given too much importance

What is Broyard most well known as? Broyard's race and his own view of it, though interesting to speculate on, are being given too much weight in this article. He wasn't widely known in his life as being part black, and he avoided the subject in his writing. He was known primarily as a writer and as being in the literary world, NOT for his ancestry. I don't know a lot about his work, but perhaps the focus of this article should be shifted? — Preceding unsigned comment added by The 2000 Man (talk • contribs) 01:36, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Indeed. This article is a racist hot mess, even going so far as to irrelevantly mention the skin tone of his wife. -- Jibal (talk) 00:06, 6 October 2019 (UTC)

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Anatole Broyard/CommentsTalk:Anatole Broyard/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

It seems odd and sad that the names of only TWO of Broyard's THREE children are listed - especially when "family" is such an important part of Mr. Broyard's story. The New York Times obituary didn't even mention a first marriage, first wife (Aida Sanchez) and/or first child. Does anyone know the name of his first child - the daughter by Aida Sanchez? I'm new to Wikipedia and don't know how to research this. Thank you. --Mark229 (talk) 22:27, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

Last edited at 22:27, 5 February 2008 (UTC). Substituted at 07:42, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Deeply racist article

"Broyard first married Aida Sanchez, a light-skinned, multi-racial Puerto Rican woman"

So what?

Broyard wanted to be seen as a writer and a person, not a black writer and a black person, and yet most of this article is about race -- how offensive and disgusting. -- Jibal (talk) 23:58, 5 October 2019 (UTC)

I removed the "light-skinned, multi-racial" bit as it is not in the citation given (as far as I can tell). Doctormatt (talk) 02:42, 7 October 2019 (UTC)

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Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 10:38, 22 October 2021 (UTC)

This article is truly a "racist hot mess"

t's truly appalling how a bizarre and frankly racist obsession with Anatole Broyard's "race" and "identity" utterly eclipses his immense literary output and towering stature in American letters. This reductive, essentialist focus verges on the absurd and reads less like a biographical entry and more like a personal grievance. Such an approach is completely inappropriate by any encyclopedic standard, including Wikipedia's.

Consider the blatant bias: The current article's fixation on "racial" binaries and Broyard's classification within them is not just problematic—it's a disgraceful and disgusting "racist hot mess" just as @Jibral put it. It shamelessly ignores Broyard's profound significance to American letters, to literary criticism, and to the memoir genre.

For proper perspective, look at how we frame other notable figures. Browse List of Louisiana Creoles. Take chef Leah Chase, for example: we highlight her as a culinary figure and cultural icon, mentioning her Creole identity without reducing her entire existence to it. Her notability stems from her achievements, not from her racial background.

Broyard was a notable American author and critic by any conceivable metric. The entire "race" discourse, initiated by his daughter after his death and amplified by others, merits a brief section, nothing more. The daughter or her book may well deserve their own page. But this page should be about Broyard the critic. As it stands now, the article completely fails to recognize Broyard's true legacy. Cobalt blur (talk) 13:23, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

Re-written for encyclopedic style, objective viewpoint, appropriate sources

What the subject says. I know my citations are a mess. I will try to clean up soon. Cobalt blur (talk) 17:24, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

There was a link in Categories box to "Impostors". I removed it.

There was a link in Categories box to "Impostors". I removed it. Cobalt blur (talk) 22:06, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for rephrasing some of the related verbiage; I never liked how Broyard was described as "being at the center of controversy" in the lead. Moneytrees🏝️(Talk) 23:06, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

You're welcome! I was horrified the first time I read it. I don't even remember how I got to the article. And he's such an important figure. Cobalt blur (talk) 01:31, 24 May 2025 (UTC)