Discussions of who “belongs” in the United States are hardly new. From the very moment the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, they were not only interested in who belonged in the United States, but also in who did not. In the nineteenth century, questions of “assimilation” and “Americanization” became prominent. These issues yielded codified laws and social norms that upheld the “separate but equal” doctrine, including enslavement, Jim Crow laws, and social antisemitism. As long as segregation existed, so did efforts to circumvent racial norms, especially since “belonging” in our republic entailed being white, male, and Christian. As a result, light-skinned African Americans who could pass as white began doing so in the antebellum period, both to save their lives and to circumvent racial/racist expectations. Jews, too, had a long history of “assimilating” into gentile culture, “passing” if their looks were deemed “not Jewish,” changing their names, and adopting gentile social behaviors.
This mini-course will explore African American and Jewish literary texts that engage the issues of racial passing and belonging in the United States. Readings for this mini-course will include discussions of memoirs and fiction, such as Nella Larsen’s Passing, James Weldon Johnson’s Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, Philip Roth’s The Human Stain, and We Wear the Mask: 15 True Stories of Passing in America, edited by Brando Skyhorse and Lisa Page.
Registration opens in October.
Mini-Course Three Sessions:
Sessions to be held through Zoom
Wednesday 11/29 7pm: Belonging and Assimilating in Antebellum America
We will explore the beginnings of racial passing in the 19th century. Despite the horrors of enslavement, some African Americans were able to pass as white, either by having a lighter complexion and/or by forging slave passes (documents that allowed the enslaved to temporarily travel beyond plantations). Texts will include excerpts from Olaudah Equiano’s Narrative, William Wells Brown’s Clotel, and James Weldon Johnson’s Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.
Wednesday 12/6 7pm: Racial Passing in the 20th Century
The twentieth century saw an increasing number of African Americans passing as Jews, particularly after World War II. We will explore texts that highlight the fluidity of the color line for Blacks and Jews, including excerpts from W.E.B. DuBois’s Souls of Black Folk, Nella Larsen’s Passing, and Philip Roth’s The Human Stain.
Wednesday 12/13 7pm: Race and Belonging in the Era of Post-Race
The twenty-first century has witnessed an expanded definition of passing. Today, Americans can pass through race, class, sexuality, gender, and immigration status, among other subject positions that are easily transverse. We will also explore the role that academia has played in the racial imagination, including recent high-profile cases of Jewish academics passing as African Americans. Texts will include excerpts from Brando Skyhorse’s & Lisa Page’s We Wear the Mask: 15 True Stories of Passing in America and Danzy Senna’s Caucasia.