One of the mothers of Critical Mixed-Race Studies, Maria Primitiva Paz Root, Ph. D. (b. 1955) wrote the Bill of Rights for People of Mixed Heritage in 1993. Credited with publishing the first contemporary work on mixed-race people, Dr. Root is a clinical psychologist, educator, and public speaker based in Seattle, Washington. Her areas of work include Multiracial identity and families, cultural competence, trauma, workplace harassment, and disordered eating. A former President of the Washington State Psychological Association, she has served as Chair of the APA Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest, served on the advisory council of The Association of Multiethnic Americans, and co-founded the Journal for Critical Mixed Race Studies in 2011. Her work prompted the first U.S. Census where respondents could identify as more than one race in 2000.

Her works include The Multiracial Experience: Racial Borders as the New Frontier, Filipino Americans: Transformation and Identity, and the Multiracial Oath of Social Responsibility.