"I took the one drop rule pretty seriously," says Parsard, a graduate student in African-American studies at Yale University.

Parsard's father was born in British-ruled Jamaica. He was raised with Indian people but identified as black because, she says, of how exclusionary Indian communities can be in Jamaica.

She began to think about her own identity when roti and chicken curry appeared at the Thanksgiving table.

"What I have come to realize is that ... people's history is intertwined, that being mixed race is not at odds with being black," she says.

"When we think about blackness, it's usually along a black-white context," she says. "But there are many histories, interesting histories of resistance."

For Parsard, blackness stems from a moment in time in 1492, with the discovery of a new land and a history of brutality that followed.

Appearance is a primary factor for many Americans in determining race and identity. For Parsard and others in Yaba Blay's project, it's not.