The Romance of Race - (American Literatures Initiative) by Jolie A Sheffer (Paperback)

About the Book

The national identity of the United States was transformed between 1880 and 1930 due to mass immigration, imperial expansion, the rise of Jim Crow, and the beginning of the suffrage movement. The Romance of Race examines the role of minority women writers and reformers in the creation of modern American multiculturalism by placing minorities at the center of American identity and imagining a new national narrative based on the model of an interracial nuclear family.

Book Synopsis

In the United States miscegenation is not merely a subject of literature and popular culture. It is in many ways the foundation of contemporary imaginary community. The Romance of Race examines the role of minority women writers and reformers in the creation of our modern American multiculturalism.

The national identity of the United States was transformed between 1880 and 1930 due to mass immigration, imperial expansion, the rise of Jim Crow, and the beginning of the suffrage movement. A generation of women writers and reformers--particularly women of color--contributed to these debates by imagining new national narratives that put minorities at the center of American identity. Jane Addams, Pauline Hopkins, Onoto Watanna (Winnifred Eaton), María Cristina Mena, and Mourning Dove (Christine Quintasket) embraced the images of the United States--and increasingly the world--as an interracial nuclear family. They also reframed public debates through narratives depicting interracial encounters as longstanding, unacknowledged liaisons between white men and racialized women that produced an incestuous, mixed-race nation.

By mobilizing the sexual taboos of incest and miscegenation, these women writers created political allegories of kinship and community. Through their criticisms of the nation's history of exploitation and colonization, they also imagined a more inclusive future. As Jolie A. Sheffer identifies the contemporary template for American multiculturalism in the works of turn-of-the century minority writers, she uncovers a much more radical history than has previously been considered.

Review Quotes

"The Romance of Race [is] Jolie A Sheffer's excellent rendition of the means by which 'belonging, ' that is, creating a coherent nation out of immigrants, took place during the great immigration from southern and eastern Europe"--Toni Morrison "author of "Beloved," "Song of Solomon," and "The Bluest Eye""

"A fine work of scholarship that highlights the social, economic, and cultural dynamism associated with the literary and historical analysis of race, gender, and sexuality in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century America."
-- "Journal of American History"

"Many mainstream Americans grudgingly concede that racial and ethnic minorities are entitled to equal rights in politics, education, employment, and residency but still draw the line where marriage, family, and sexual relations are concerned ... In her fascinating path-breaking study, Jolie A. Sheffer convincingly argues that one of the earliest and boldest challenges to that insulated worldview came from female writers and reformers of color."-- "The Historian"

"A smart and important book, The Romance of Race empowers its reader to rethink the structures of the genealogy of family, nation, and race along with the pathbreaking women writers it examines."--Laura Wexler "Yale University"

"Crisply written and convincingly argued, The Romance of Race is a sharp piece of literary and cultural analysis. I highly recommend it."--Sarah E. Chinn "author of Technology and the Logic of American Racism"

About the Author

JOLIE A. SHEFFER is an associate professor of English and affiliated faculty in American Culture Studies at Bowling Green State University.