White African American Studies Professor Resigns After Faking Hispanic Ancestry & Posing As ‘Chicana’
Kelly Kean Sharp, a white African American studies professor, has resigned from her position as assistant professor at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina after faking a Hispanic ancestry and posing as “Chicana,” which refers to American women of Mexican origin or descent.
An anonymous writer, who claimed she had “distantly known” Sharp when Sharp was a PhD graduate student at the University of California, made the discovery, pointing out inconsistencies in Sharp’s claims of a Hispanic heritage. The writer even discovered that the Sharp’s supposed abuela (grandmother), whom she claimed immigrated from Mexico, was actually born in Los Angeles “to white parents,” and their home had a servant employed and living on the premises, per census records.
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On Tuesday (Oct. 27), Tom Evelyn, a Furman University spokesperson said the school was investigating the accusations against Sharp. Later that day, Evelyn updated that she’d resigned. School officials said they were “disappointed” to learn of their employee’s alleged misrepresentation of herself, claiming they expect “members of [their] community to be honest in the way they represent themselves to others.”
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