Black and White Strangers: Race and Literature in the US
Toni Morrison’s Playing in the Dark (1992) revealed the extent to which the racial categories of blackness and whiteness have shaped literary history in the US. In the nineteenth century especially, these categories were codified in works of literature that simultaneously explored the meaning of citizenship and national identity. This course examines constructions of blackness and whiteness and their prominence in American literature alongside the social, political, and economic histories that render these constructions meaningful. Authors include Chesnutt, Jacobs, Melville, Du Bois, and Hurston.
Toni Morrison’s Playing in the Dark (1992) revealed the extent to which the racial categories of blackness and whiteness have shaped literary history in the US. In the nineteenth century especially, these categories were codified in works of literature that simultaneously explored the meaning of citizenship and national identity. This course examines constructions of blackness and whiteness and their prominence in American literature alongside the social, political, and economic histories that render these constructions meaningful. Authors include Chesnutt, Jacobs, Melville, Du Bois, and Hurston.
- Teacher: Hannah Wells