Student Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-22-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
Language
English
First Advisor
Karen Weingarten
Second Advisor
Amy Wan
Abstract
"In this essay, I examine three texts that consider the repercussions of passing for Black Americans. Nella Larsen’s Passing (1929) serves as a namesake for this general idea, as two light-skinned African American women represent the divisionary approach to racial passing. In George S. Schuyler’s Black No More (1931) we see a passing Black man’s virility being tested as he enters an ‘alternate universe’, in which a scientific invention grants him full access to the wondrous white world he’d always dreamed of entering. Finally, in the middle of this textual spectrum is Angelina W. Grimké’s 1919 short story, “The Closing Door,” which bears witness to the same issue, when reproduction serves as the hammer that delivers the final blow to a Black mother’s mental health. In bringing all of these texts together, I aim to demonstrate how reproduction is a physical barrier that interrupts a Black person’s ability to pass."
Recommended Citation
Kordmany, Veronica, "Reproduction: The Ultimate Enemy of Racial Passing in Harlem Renaissance Literature" (2023). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/qc_etds/15
Included in
African American Studies Commons, African History Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, Modern Literature Commons, United States History Commons, Women's History Commons