WASHINGTON -- A civil rights leader , who has posed for years as a black woman, faced tough questions about her racial identity long before this week's revelations that she grew up "Caucasian" derailed her career.
More than a decade ago, Howard University's lawyers questioned whether Rachel Dolezal had tried to pose as African-American when she applied for admission to the historically black college in the U.S. nation's capital.
Dolezal had accused the university of denying her a teaching position because she was white. During a deposition, Howard's lawyers asked whether she had tried to mislead the admissions office with an essay focused on black history and identity, according to court documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
"I plunged into black history and novels, feeling the relieving release of understanding and common ground," she wrote in the essay. "My struggles paled as I read of the atrocities so many ancestors faced in America."
Dolezal resigned her NAACP post this week after her parents accused her of posing as black despite her Czech, German and Swedish ancestry. She now faces a swirl of allegations about other statements, challenging her credibility.
On Wednesday, an independent investigation by the city of Spokane concluded that she acted improperly and violated government rules while leading the city's volunteer police ombudsman commission.
Spokane Mayor David Condon and City Council President Ben Stuckart called Dolezal and two others to remove themselves from the five-member commission.
Dolezal's lawsuit against Howard never reached trial; a court said she failed to prove her claims and ordered her to pay the university's legal costs.
In the essay, she described her family as "transracial," and writes, "At the early age of three I showed an awareness of the richness and beauty of dark skin when I said, 'Mama, all people are beautiful but black people are so beautiful."'
During the deposition, Dolezal denied trying to mislead anyone, saying she was "talking about black history in novels."
At another point, she was asked more broadly if she had ever misled anyone into thinking she was black.
"I don't know that I could lead anyone to believe that I'm African-American. I believe that, you know, in certain context, maybe someone would assume that, but I don't know that I could convince someone that I'm a hundred per cent African-American."
Asked to explain what she considers her own race to be, she said, "if you have to choose to describe yourself and you're able to give terms like a fraction or whatever but an overall picture, I consider myself to be Caucasian biologically."
Asked by NBC's Matt Lauer this week if she is an "an African-American woman," Dolezal said: "I identify as black."
Civil rights leaders in Spokane are openly worrying about the damage all this has done to their efforts to move the region beyond a troubled racial past.
"I think it is a setback," said Virla Spencer, 36, who is black. "It's sad we have to focus so much on this when there is so much more work to do."
Dolezal, who lives in Coeur d'Alene, resigned Monday as president of the Spokane branch of the NAACP, saw her biography removed from the website of Eastern Washington University, where she was as a part-time African studies instructor, and was fired as a freelance newspaper columnist.
