An ethos for an identity: Rachel Dolezal and the construction of a public self

Rachel Dolezals claim to a black identity, and therefore a transracial identity, ignited a controversy which continues into the present day. Whereas past scholarship has examined the ethical and political implications of her transracial identification, this thesis reveals the rhetorical means by which Dolezal advanced her claim to blackness, and how audiences called into question that identification. I argue that Rachel Dolezals ethos was the preeminent question for audiences grappling with the concept of a transracial identity. Reading the Dolezal controversy through ethos appeals reveals the shifting grounds of racial identity in the 21st century.