this is 37-year-old rachel dolezal appeals to have carefully constructed a life as a black civil rights activist in the last decade but that world is falling apart following a shocking revelation by her parents that dolezal is actually a white woman who has posed for years as african-american. her parents produced this picture of her as a young girl with fair skin and straight blond hair. her mother saying rachel began disguising herself as black after they adopted four black children years ago. dolezal has resigned as president of the local branch of the naacp lost her position as a part time african studies instructor at a local university as well as her job as a freelance newspaper columnist is that now the subject of a probe by the city's ethics commission. dolezal has not only identified herself as black for years but has also filed

that rachel dolezal did attend graduate school here on a teaching scholarship and that when she was here, she did not appear to be trying to pass as african-american. this 2005 d.c. court of appealsnion upheld the original findings in the lawsuit against howard university by rachel dolezal, known by her married name, rachel moore in 2002. she claims she was a victim of discrimination while a graduate student at university. she claims officials removed some of her artwork in a 2001 art exhibition in order to favor african-american students. the court ultimately ruled in howard's favor. with curiosity and a measure of compassion for dolezal who resigned as head of the spokane, washington naacp. >> a lot of kids go home in the summer so you don't see many people. >> i feel she stood up for cause. she stood up for our rights, even though she wasn't quote unquote one of us. >> one of the documents that submitted to get into howard led to the perception she was american, from the perspective of the artwork. when she arrived here they realized she was white and said she never pretended while she was here to be anything else. back to you. >> jackie thanks. naacp released a new statement