The Indo Author Tjalie Robinson. Pioneer of a Multiracial Identity in the American Sixties

While myriads of multiracial societies have developed throughout American history, it is generally assumed that the conscious framing of a mixed-racial American identity is a recent phenomenon that started in the late 1970s. It is not well-know that The American Tong Tong, founded in California in 1962 by the Dutch Eurasian ‘Indo’ writer Tjalie Robinson (1911-1974), was probably the first magazine in the United States to consciously advocate a multiracial identity. However, Robinson’s ambition to pass Indo culture and identity over to the next generation was largely abandoned by Indos in America. What remains is Robinson’s written legacy with a fascinating wealth of ideas about identity issues that only long after his death achieved prominence in Dutch and American society.