Life on the boundary: "Passing" and the limits of self-definition

With the advent of various state laws that classified as black any individual with at least “one-drop” of African blood and the legalization of racial segregation enacted by the Plessy vs. Ferguson Supreme Court decision, the American post-Reconstruction era was a period in which the line separating races became more and more distinct. However, as the legal definitions and hierarchical categorizations of racial difference became more discrete, the physical basis of racial distinction became increasingly destabilized. Nella Larsen’s Passing and James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man are novels from this period that depict the struggles of characters who suffer because of the social and legal distinction between “black” and “white.” Because of the social imperative that these characters be black even though they have visibly white skin, the distinction between “black” and “white” actually becomes an arbitrary distinction between “white” and “not-white.” The protagonists of both novels--Clare Kendry, Irene Redfield, and the unnamed Ex-Colored Man--all seek stable self-definitions that successfully integrate both their personal and social identities. However, because of their inability to resolve the paradox created by their visible “whiteness” and legal classification as “black,” none of the protagonists are able to successfully negotiate the threats posed by their racially and socioeconomically oppressive environment while keeping their personal identities continuously intact. Unable to form stable, coherent identities through the blending of mutually agreeable public and private “selves,” Clare, Irene, and the Ex-Colored Man remain in irresolvable positions with identities that are permanently indeterminate.M.A.Includes bibliographical referencesby Raven Marlenia Mose