Black Americans, Jewish Americans:
Racial
and Ethnic "Passing" in Literature and the Struggle to Belong
|
|
Presented
in partnership with the New Brunswick Free Public Library, the
New Brunswick African American Heritage Committee, and the
Rutgers University Libraries–New
Brunswick
Free and open to the public
|
|
|
Wed., June 26, 7:00 p.m.Passing by Nella Larsen
Clare Kendry is living on
the edge. Light skinned and married to a racist white man who is
unaware of her African American heritage, she has decided to
"pass" as a white woman and has severed ties to her past.
Tensions mount when she reunites with childhood friend Irene
Redfield, who is also light skinned but has chosen to remain within
the African American community.
|
|
|
Donavan L. Ramon, assistant professor of English at Southern Illinois
University Edwardsville and the fall 2023 Bildner Visiting Scholar,
will lead a discussion of key themes in this important
novel and also highlight connections between Passing and The
Human Stain by Philip Roth.
|
|
|
|
Presented in conjunction
with the interdisciplinary symposium "Black Americans,
Jewish Americans: Historical Intersections, Collisions, and Passings" and made possible by a grant from the New
Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National
Endowment for the Humanities.
|
|
|
|
|