Liberating history: the context of the challenge of psychologists of color to American psychology.

The history of race and ethnicity in North America is long and complex. It has been fraught with racism and various forms of oppression--intellectual, social, and physical--and defies easy analysis. This article examines the history of race and ethnicity in the United States, and how it played out in the field of psychology. Although other articles in this issue examine the specific impact of racism and internal colonialism on racial and ethnic minorities, this article places these events within an international context, specifically the post-World War II era when oppressed peoples around the world sought liberation from colonial oppressors. The article suggests that the struggles and successes of racial and ethnic minority psychologists may provide the best opportunity for American psychology to connect with emerging indigenous psychologies in other parts of the world, which represent the future of psychology in a globalizing world.