Nell Irvin Painter is een Amerikaanse historica, gevierd om haar studies over de geschiedenis van het Zuiden in de negentiende eeuw. Als vooraanstaand emerita van Princeton University heeft ze belangrijke historische organisaties geleid. Haar werk duikt diep in de sociale en culturele geschiedenissen van het Amerikaanse Zuiden, met een bijzondere focus op de ervaringen van Afro-Amerikanen en vrouwen. Painter wordt erkend voor haar scherpe analytische benadering en haar opmerkelijke vermogen om het verleden tot leven te wekken met rijke details en genuanceerd inzicht.
In this powerful collection of groundbreaking essays, Painter reaches across the colour line to examine how race, gender, class, and individual subjectivity shaped the lives of black and white women and men in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century South.
A New York Times bestseller: This terrific new book . . . [explores] the `notion of whiteness,' an idea as dangerous as it is seductive.-Boston Globe
A consistently engrossing, occasionally irreverent, always smoothly written history of America's painful entry into the modern age.-Kirkus Reviews
Exploring art, politics, and the enduring legacy of racism, this collection of essays presents Nell Painter's incisive commentary on American history. With a keen focus on figures like Sojourner Truth and Toni Morrison, she challenges readers to rethink race, identity, and political landscapes, particularly in light of contemporary issues. Accompanied by her original artwork, which complements her writing, Painter's work reflects a deep inquiry into the complexities and contradictions of American society, emphasizing the ongoing struggle between progress and stagnation.
The book explores the complex interactions between black and white communities in the South, challenging the notion of a rigid color line in historical narratives. Historian Nell Irvin Painter emphasizes that, despite societal expectations for racial separation, the lives of these groups were deeply interconnected throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This examination seeks to reshape the understanding of southern history by highlighting the entanglements that existed beneath the surface of segregation.