Rachel Dolezal: I Identified as Black Since I Was 5

Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP chapter president who resigned in disgrace after being accused of pretending to be a black woman, told NBC's "Today" show that she has identified as black since she was 5 years old.

"I was drawing self-portraits with the brown crayon instead of the peach crayon, and black curly hair," Dolezal told the show's host, Matt Lauer, on Tuesday.

Controversy sparked nationally about Dolezal's race after her biological parents, both white, began to talk publicly about their daughter, and a 2002 legal claim she made against Howard University for anti-white discrimination came to light.

Dolezal graduated with a master of fine arts degree from Howard University, an historically black school in Washington, D.C., but then accused the university of denying her teaching positions and a scholarship for being a white woman, the Daily Mail reported.

Known at the time as Rachel Moore, Dolezal transformed herself into an African-American woman a few years after the claim, which she lost, against Howard, the newspaper reported.

When asked by Lauer if she darkens her physical appearance, Dolezal responded, "I certainly don't stay out of the sun."

Dolezal's Caucasian parents on Monday told the "Today" show that their daughter, whom they have not seen in years, has made multiple false claims about her race, possibly as a way to "damage her biological family."

Lawrence and Ruthanne Dolezal also said that they are listed as her biological parents on her Montana birth certificate despite her claims that Albert Wilkenson, an African-American, is her father.

When confronted by Lauer about her claim to Wilkenson being her father, Dolezal said, "We connected on an intimately level as family. Albert Wilkerson is my dad. Any man can be a father. Not every man can be a dad."

Dolezal resigned as president of the NAACP's Spokane, Washington, chapter in a Facebook post on Monday that read:



Watch the video here.

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• Rachel Dolezal Quits as Head of Spokane NAACP: 'This is Not About Me'
• Rachel Dolezal's Parents: Daughter Has 'Some Very Serious Issues'