Americans of mixed race say questions of "blackness" concerning Obama -- with a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya -- shows the depth of concern Americans have regarding racial categories, The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) reported.

"I think Barack Obama is going to bring these deeply American stories to the forefront," said Esther John, 56, an administrator at Northwest Indian College in Washington, who identifies herself as African-American, American Indian and white. "Maybe we'll get a little bit further in the dialogue on race."

Obama's biracial background "made it right to be white and still love your black relatives, and to be

black and still love your white relatives: to love despite another person's racial appearance," John said.

Obama is a U.S. senator from Illinois.

The single-race categories may be on the wane, the Times said, as immigration and the advancing age of marriage in the United States also cause a rise in the number of interracial marriages. The 2000 Census counted 3.1 million interracial couples, about 6 percent of married couples.