Summary of Stages of Racial Identity Development

These charts, from Racial Equity Tools, summarize several frameworks that have been developed to describe stages of racial and ethnic identity development, primarily found in the psychology and therapy literature. Some were developed as a way to expand on Erik Erickson’s model of human development (which goes from infancy to old age), taking into account factors such as race, gender and sexuality. Some of the frameworks are used to help therapists understand their patients more fully. The models also have broader applications for understanding how individuals function in community, family and organizational settings.