From Library Journal
In his first book, Martin (English, Florida State Univ.) examines America's obsession with skin color in a remarkably direct fashion. Taking a literary approach, he focuses on the image of the white Negro (born with albinism or suffering from vitiligo, which robs the skin of pigment) in American social history and popular culture, showing how that bewildering figure served and still serves as a reminder of the nation's color prejudice since the late 18th century. The result is a unique expos of the perception, interpretation, and exploitation of race in America addressing not only the social construction of cultural preferences within a racial dichotomy but also the inherent dubiousness of racial justifications for social, cultural, and historical actions. Every American with a need to understand the racial dilemmas and stigmas that persistently inflame and sustain America's tumultuous race relations, even as the nation purports to see the need to placate them, can benefit from reading this book. The language, however, makes the work more appropriate for college-educated audiences. Recommended primarily for academic libraries. Edward K. Owusu-Ansah, Coll. of Staten Island Lib., CUNY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From the Back Cover
Blacks with white skin. Since colonial times, showmen have exhibited the bodies of African Americans with white or gradually whitening skin in taverns, dime museums, and circus sideshows. The term "white Negro" has served to describe an individual born with albinism as well as those who have vitiligo, a disorder that robs the skin of its pigment in ever-growing patches. In The White African American Body, Charles D. Martin examines the proliferation of the image of the white Negro in American popular culture, from the late eighteenth century to the present day.
This enigmatic figure highlights the folly of the belief in immutable racial differences. If skin is a race marker, what does it mean for blacks literally to be white? What does this say not only about blacks but also about whites? Scientists have probed this mystery, philosophers have pondered its meaning, and artists have profited from the sale of images of these puzzling figures.
Lavishly illustrated-with many rarely seen photographs-The White African American Body shows how the white Negro occupied, and still occupies, the precarious position between white and black, and how this figure remains resilient in American culture.
