In the United States, there's a national infatuation with those who have broken barriers--racial, religious, gendered, and so on--and have presumably changed the rules of the game for others. News outlets and history textbooks seem unable to resist a good story of "firstness." Researchers have speculated why this is the case: What better way to demonstrate those quintessential American qualities like the pioneer spirit and "rugged individualism" than to be the first person to break into a new frontier? Others suggest that firsts serve a tokenism purpose: a handful of high-achieving women and people of color allow Whites to tell themselves that the nation has progressed beyond its prejudicial past.