France Winddance Twine was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her mother was a
Black American whose roots are in the Louisiana delta. Her father was
of Native American Creek (also known as Muscogee) descent with roots in
Oklahoma.
She received a Bachelor's degree from Northwestern University and went
on to a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California,
Berkeley.
It was during her studies at Berkeley that she completed the film "Just
Black?".
She went on to complete her field research in Brazil culminating in her
doctoral dissertation subsequently published as "Racism in a Racial
Democracy".
Professor Twine is now a full professor in the department of sociology
at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her areas of
specialization include feminism, anti-racism, critical race theory and
girl's culture.