Are President Obama and Other Trailblazers Victims of the 'First Black' Syndrome?

Research suggests subtle racism in everyday interaction reinforces stereotypes, expectations

Adulation and the perks of celebrity should accompany becoming the first of your race or ethnic group to achieve international acclaim or political power.

That’s probably what confused Gabby Douglas, the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the individual all-around gymnastics competition.

Instead of unified praise, some decided that the 16-year-old Virginia native’s hairstyle was more noteworthy than her history-making achievements at this summer’s London Olympics. (Douglas felt hurt by the comments, she confirmed to Oprah Winfrey, in an interview scheduled to air this Sunday on OWN.)

Perhaps this is the baggage that comes with being a “black first” – hyper-scrutiny rarely bestowed on one’s non-black counterparts.

Research by Columbia University psychologists suggests the racial scrutiny blacks face in daily interracial and intercultural interactions – on the validity of their credentials, their schooling, and even their birth certificates – comes from the prevailing assumption among non-blacks that African Americans are not supposed to do better than whites.

[SEE ALSO: 15 of History's African American Firsts]

Most of those polled in Loop 21’s State of the Black Economy survey believe that this is why President Barack Obama, the nation’s first black commander-in-chief, is held to a higher standard than his predecessors.

“[People] are astounded that we [African Americans] have achieved so much,” said Jessie Carney Smith, the author of an expansive anthology on African American achievement, aptly named “Black Firsts,” and who is, herself, the first black person to receive a post doctorate degree from the School of Library Sciences at the University of Illinois.

Smith, the Dean of the Library at Fisk University in Nashville, a historically black institution, said she could only assume that other African Americans, like her, have learned to cope with the sting of being labeled an exception to their race and with the baggage that accompanies it.

[SEE ALSO: State of the Black Economy 2012 Results]

Rightly or wrongly, many felt being the first black president came with the expectation that Obama would improve the conditions of African Americans and other disadvantaged minorities. Earlier this month, Obama unflinchingly shot down a Black Enterprise reporter’s assertion that he had not done enough to support black businesses.