Blackness and the Color Black in 20th-Century African-American Fiction

Nobodys skin is really black or white. Yet both terms are constantly used to classify people. Whiteness studies have revealed that white must be considered as an ideological label that defines superiority and privilege. Conversely, black came to mark inferiority and discrimination. This study explores how African-Americans responded to Anglo-Saxon race theory by adopting the originally demeaning assignation black and turning it into the ideology of black self-empowerment and racial pride. The analyses of eighteen novels from the African-American literary canon which focus on the significance of the color black and the concept of blackness strongly suggest the importance of blackness studies while providing a close (re)reading of major works of 20th-century black fiction.