African American Review · 2001 · 242 citations · 0 references
HumanitiesAfrican American StudiesLiteratureAfrican American HistoryAfrican American LiteratureBlack Intellectual HistoryAfrican American Gender RelationsAfrican American Literary CriticismAfrican American Literary StudiesBlack Sexuality StudiesBlack StudiesBlack Women's HistoryAfrican American FictionAfrican American HistoriographyAfrican American Literary TheoryAfrican American Narrative TraditionsAfrican American PeriodicalsBlack Church CommunitiesBlack Family HistoryNarratives Of Black Subjectivity
In his new book, Robert Reid-Pharr argues that black gender and sexuality have always played a crucial role in questions of black identity. He identifies the origins of a national African American literature in the founding of the Black press in 1827 and the beginnings of a novelistic tradition in the antebellum period. Reid-Pharr shows how state conventions, churches, newspapers, and novels - predominantly aimed at Northeastern Black communities - were integral in shaping the ideal of the black family.