ONLINE CLASS: Passing through the Veil: Black Characters and White-passing from the Antebellum Period to the Jim Crow Era (20107)
Four Wednesdays: October 7, 14, 21, 28, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Racial differences are, in theory, one of the easiest identities to distinguish in the United States, due in part to the Jim Crow-era adoption of the "one drop rule" after the Civil War and Reconstruction. Codified into law in several states during the 1910s-30s, the one drop rule institutionalized the fiction of racial purity that more easily segregated Whiteness from Blackness, the American from the foreigner, and one who belonged from one who must be excluded.
Those designated as White by their European ancestry maintained social and economic supremacy over those they deemed non-white based on disclosures or discoveries of non-European heritage. The one drop rule hardened the color line so that people with “one drop” of Sub-Saharan African blood were considered Black. These racial binaries affect racial classifications to this day.
However, the novels in this discussion-based seminar probe the origins of and dismantle this assumed fixity of racial identity. In the first week, we will read William Wells Brown's Clotel, or the President's Daughter (1853). The second week will examine Jim Crow era novels such as Mark Twain’s The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson and James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912). In the third and fourth class, respectively, we will take a closer look at Nella Larsen’s Passing (1929) and George S. Schuler’s Black No More (1931).
Four Wednesdays: October 7, 14, 21, 28, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Online Class.
Reading Schedule:
October 7: Clotel, or The President's Daughter
October 14: The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson and/or The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
October 21: Passing
October 28: Black No More
Required Texts:
Clotel, or The President's Daughter, by William Wells Brown
The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson, by Mark Twain and/or The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, by James Weldon Johnson
Passing, by Nella Larsen
Black No More, by George S. Schuler
Kimberly Clarke is a writer, independent scholar and educator based in Alexandria, Virginia where she pursues her research interests in 19th century Transatlantic studies, Classical studies, and Caribbean Literature. She is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the education sector. Dr. Clarke has over a decade of experience engaging in outreach programs and initiatives that pursue cross-cultural partnerships with diverse populations.
REFUND POLICY: Please note that we can issue class refunds up until seven (7) days before the first class session.
