Race in US Literature since 1850

US acquires land to the west

Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987) “Not a house in the country ain’t packed to its rafters with some dead Negro’s grief. We lucky this ghost is a baby.” - Toni Morrison, Beloved (London: Vintage, 1997) p.3. The Modern Medea (1867, above), by Thomas Satterwhite Noble, was based on Margaret Garner’s story. Sethe’s story is informed by the true life account of Margaret Garner, a runaway slave who slit the throat of her daughter, when caught by slave catchers in the free state of Ohio.

William Faulkner’s Light in August (1932) The marshal warns Joe Brown: “You better be careful what you are saying, if it is a white man you’re talking about... I don’t care if he’s a murderer or not.” - William Faulkner, Light in August (New York: Vintage, 1990), 72.

William Faulkner’s Light in August Impressions of the mob: They “believed aloud that it was an anonymous negro crime committed not by a negro but by Negro and who knew, believed, and hoped that she had been ravished too: at least once before her throat was cut and at least once after” (216).

Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony (1977) We encounter another kind of prejudice towards Native peoples in the US. Tayo defines his and his Native veterans post- WWII experiences accordingly: “The war was over, the uniform was gone. All of a sudden that man at the store waits on you last.” - Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony [1977] (New York: Penguin, 1986), 42.