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Rachel Anne Dolezal is an American woman of Czech, German and Swedish descent. She is a white woman who self-identifies as African-American.

Rachael Dolezal’s parents

To look like an African-American woman, Dolezal darkens her skin and perms her hair. From 2009 to 2015, she claimed several times that she was a victim of race-related harassment but all of her allegations resulted neither in an arrest nor in the filing of criminal charges.

To back up the persona, Dolezal took to Facebook to post a photo of herself with an African-American man named Albert Wilkerson, which she identified as her father. On June 10, 2015, KXLY-TV reporter Jeff Humphrey asked her about him, “Is that your dad?”

“Yeah,” Dolezal replied. “That’s… that’s my dad.”

“This man right here is your father?” Humphrey continued asking. “Right there?”

“Do you have a question about that?” Dolezal answered with a question, which Humphrey answered with, “Yes, ma’am. I was wondering if, uh, your dad really is an African-American man?”

“That’s a very, I mean, I don’t know what you’re implying,” Dolezal was visibly uncomfortable. It became worse when Humphrey asked, “Are you African-American?”

“I don’t…” Dolezal clearly was not prepared for the question. “I don’t understand the question of, I did tell you that yes that’s my dad and he was unable to come in January.”

“Are your parents, are they white?” Humphrey asked. While walking away, Dolezal said, “I refuse..”

Dolezal was born in Troy, Lincoln County, Montana, United States to her German-Czech father Lawrence “Larry” A. Dolezal and her German-Swedish mother Ruthanne Schertel Dolezal. Raised in the Pentecostal faith, Rachel was homeschooled via the Christian Liberty Academy CLASS program and she was one of the co-valedictorians when she graduated in 1996.

Also in 1996, Tandy Leather awarded Rachel $2,000 scholarship for college for her entry in the Leather Art contest. In 1998, she expressed African-American themes through collages and mixed-media works, which she entered at the annual Juneteenth celebration in Spokane, Washington, USA.

Rachel also goes by the name Nkechi Amare Diallo, which means “gift of God” and “bold” in the Igbo language, which is spoken primarily in Nigeria. On November 12, 2024, she turned 47.

Rachel Dolezal’s criminal record

In 2002, Rachel earned a master’s degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C., USA. That year, she sued the university for denying her scholarship funds, a teaching assistant position and other opportunities because she was a white woman.

In the lawsuit, Rachel accused the university of removing her artwork from a student exhibition in 2001 with a discriminatory purpose to favor African-American students over her. In February 2004, Judge Zoe Bush dismissed her complaint.

Between August 2015 and December 2017, Rachel received $8,847 in food and childcare assistance. Although she received tens of thousands of dollars in unreported income during this period, she told the state of Washington that her income was less than $500 per month.

In May 2018, the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services charged Rachel with second-degree perjury and felony theft by welfare fraud. If she was found guilty, could have received a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, according to the Spokane County prosecutor’s office.

But on March 25, 2019, Rachel entered into a diversion agreement. To avoid a trial, she agreed to repay her assistance benefits and complete 120 hours of community service.