Caucasia (1998) is the first novel written by American author, Danzy Senna. It is the coming-of-age story of two multiracial girls, Birdie Lee and her sister Cole, who have a Caucasian mother and an African American father. The novel is set in Boston, Massachusetts, during the turbulent mid-1970s. Much of the novel centers around the theme of racial passing. Senna upends the traditional "tragic mulatto" story line by exploring Birdie's desire to be accepted as African American, although she appears to be Caucasian. Growing up on the run, and fearful her true identity could endanger her mother's life, Birdie seeks to understand who she is and how she fits into the world. She longs for her sister Cole and their father, ultimately running away from home to find them. Background and historical context Caucasia is set in 1975 Boston, Massachusetts. Violent protests disrupted the city as forced desegregation was implemented in public schools beginning in the 1974 school year. Boston busing desegregation flamed racial tensions, resulting in riots, beatings and violence which persisted for many years. Birdie's parents met in January 1963 during the Kennedy administration. They marry and have their first daughter, Colette/Cole in 1964; Birdie is born in 1967. At that time, there were anti-miscegenation laws in many US states. These were not overturned until the 1967 Supreme Court ruling Loving v. Virginia. Within the context of the novel, Birdie's inclination to try to make herself invisible due to the racial tension she felt in her home positioned her as a "neutered mutation" within Trey Ellis' concept of the "cultural mulatto". During this period the strategy for social change through peaceful protests that are associated with the Civil Rights Movement were being challenged by new African American leaders. Malcolm X urged a demand for human rights 'by any means necessary. Stokely Carmichael is credited with the first popular use of term "Black Power" in 1963 at a Civil Rights rally. Following the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was created by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. Violence was used as a form of protest by groups like Weather Underground, notorious for mail bombs and bank robberies, and the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), the organization that kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst in 1974. Plot summary The novel's narrator is Birdie Lee, a multiracial child who has a white mother and a black father. She