Bibliograph

A chosen exile, a history of racial passing in American life, Allyson Hobbs

Type

Label

A chosen exile, a history of racial passing in American life, Allyson Hobbs

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

A chosen exile

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

875999888

Responsibility statement

Allyson Hobbs

Sub title

a history of racial passing in American life

Summary

It was a chosen exile, a separation from one racial identity and the leap into another. To pass as white in the antebellum South was to escape the shackles of slavery. When the initially hopeful period of Reconstruction proved short-lived, passing became an opportunity to defy Jim Crow and strike out on one's own. Hobbs explores the possibilities and challenges that racial indeterminacy presented to men and women living in a country obsessed with racial distinctions. It is also a tale of grief, loneliness, and isolation that often accompanied the rewards

Table Of Contents

Prologue: To live a life elsewhere -- White is the color of freedom -- Waiting on a white man's chance -- Lost kin -- Searching for a new soul in Harlem -- Coming home -- Epilogue: On identity

Classification