HIST 1133-Mongrel America: Miscegenation, Passing, and the Myth of Racial Purity |
HIST 1133-Mongrel America: Miscegenation, Passing, and the Myth of Racial Purity
Cornell University
Fall 2012
Racial divisions have served as potent tools for consolidating power, upholding unjust practices, and shaping the American historical imagination. Whether in the form of slavery, segregation, extralegal violence, or the one-drop rule, the insistence on preserving racial distinctions reflects a desire among some Americans to cling to a myth of racial purity. Despite persistent efforts to enforce these boundaries, other Americans have consistently blurred, transgressed, and undermined these seemingly rigid racial categories. Drawing on texts by Thomas Jefferson, Nella Larsen, James Baldwin, and others, this class will explore the quixotic desire for white racial purity, the reality of ‘amalgamation,’ and the relationship between the two. Ultimately, students will analyze the impact of ‘Mongrel America’ on the ways in which Americans understand citizenship and their history.
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