Being accepted. Proving loyalty. Navigating the tight space between racial divides. Americans of mixed race say these are issues they have long confronted, and when Senator Barack Obama recently delivered a speech about race in Philadelphia, it rang with a special significance in their ears. They saw parallels between the path trod by Obama and their own.

They recalled the friends, as in Bratter's case, who thought they were not black enough. Or the people who challenged them to label themselves by innocently asking, "What are you?" Or the relatives of different races who can sometimes be insensitive to one another.