Slavery & Race in American Popular Culture
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Spanning more than three centuries, from the colonial era to the present, Van Deburg's overview analyzes the works of American historians, dramatists, novelists, poets, lyricists, and filmmakers -- and exposes, through those artists' often disquieting perceptions, the cultural underpinnings of American current racial attitudes and divisions. Crucial to Van Deburg's analysis is his contrast of black and white attitudes toward the Afro-American slave experience. There has, in fact, been a persiste
Our Review
This comprehensive study traces how slavery and race have been portrayed across American popular culture from the colonial period to modern times, examining everything from historical texts and novels to films and music lyrics. Van Deburg's analysis reveals how these cultural representations have shaped contemporary racial attitudes and divisions, exposing the uncomfortable truths artists have captured about America's relationship with its slaveholding past. The book's central focus on contrasting black and white perspectives provides crucial insight into how different communities remember and interpret this foundational experience.
What makes this work particularly valuable is its interdisciplinary approach, connecting cultural production directly to ongoing racial dynamics in ways that feel urgently relevant today. Readers interested in understanding how popular media both reflects and reinforces racial ideologies will find this an essential text, as will anyone seeking to comprehend the deep cultural roots of current racial divisions. By examining the persistent patterns in how slavery gets remembered and represented, Van Deburg offers a powerful framework for interpreting America's continuing struggle with race.
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