Slavery in American Children's Literature, 1790-2010

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Black, American
Cover of the book Slavery in American Children's Literature, 1790-2010 by Paula T. Connolly, University of Iowa Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Paula T. Connolly ISBN: 9781609381783
Publisher: University of Iowa Press Publication: July 1, 2013
Imprint: University Of Iowa Press Language: English
Author: Paula T. Connolly
ISBN: 9781609381783
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
Publication: July 1, 2013
Imprint: University Of Iowa Press
Language: English

Long seen by writers as a vital political force of the nation, children’s literature has been an important means not only of mythologizing a certain racialized past but also, because of its intended audience, of promoting a specific racialized future. Stories about slavery for children have served as primers for racial socialization. This first comprehensive study of slavery in children’s literature, Slavery in American Children’s Literature, 1790–2010, also historicizes the ways generations of authors have drawn upon antebellum literature in their own re-creations of slavery. It examines well-known, canonical works alongside others that have ostensibly disappeared from contemporary cultural knowledge but have nonetheless both affected and reflected the American social consciousness in the creation of racialized images.

Beginning with abolitionist and proslavery views in antebellum children’s literature, Connolly examines how successive generations reshaped the genres of the slave narrative, abolitionist texts, and plantation novels to reflect the changing contexts of racial politics in America. From Reconstruction and the end of the nineteenth century, to the early decades of the twentieth century, to the civil rights era, and into the twenty-first century, these antebellum genres have continued to find new life in children’s literature—in, among other forms, neoplantation novels, biographies, pseudoabolitionist adventures, and neo-slave narratives.

As a literary history of how antebellum racial images have been re-created or revised for new generations, Slavery in American Children’s Literature ultimately offers a record of the racial mythmaking of the United States from the nation’s beginning to the present day. 

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Long seen by writers as a vital political force of the nation, children’s literature has been an important means not only of mythologizing a certain racialized past but also, because of its intended audience, of promoting a specific racialized future. Stories about slavery for children have served as primers for racial socialization. This first comprehensive study of slavery in children’s literature, Slavery in American Children’s Literature, 1790–2010, also historicizes the ways generations of authors have drawn upon antebellum literature in their own re-creations of slavery. It examines well-known, canonical works alongside others that have ostensibly disappeared from contemporary cultural knowledge but have nonetheless both affected and reflected the American social consciousness in the creation of racialized images.

Beginning with abolitionist and proslavery views in antebellum children’s literature, Connolly examines how successive generations reshaped the genres of the slave narrative, abolitionist texts, and plantation novels to reflect the changing contexts of racial politics in America. From Reconstruction and the end of the nineteenth century, to the early decades of the twentieth century, to the civil rights era, and into the twenty-first century, these antebellum genres have continued to find new life in children’s literature—in, among other forms, neoplantation novels, biographies, pseudoabolitionist adventures, and neo-slave narratives.

As a literary history of how antebellum racial images have been re-created or revised for new generations, Slavery in American Children’s Literature ultimately offers a record of the racial mythmaking of the United States from the nation’s beginning to the present day. 

More books from University of Iowa Press

Cover of the book Making Local Food Work by Paula T. Connolly
Cover of the book What Is Your Quest? by Paula T. Connolly
Cover of the book Safe as Houses by Paula T. Connolly
Cover of the book The Ghosts of NASCAR by Paula T. Connolly
Cover of the book Take Nothing With You by Paula T. Connolly
Cover of the book Knowing Where It Comes From by Paula T. Connolly
Cover of the book Of Men and Marshes by Paula T. Connolly
Cover of the book And the Monkey Learned Nothing by Paula T. Connolly
Cover of the book The Rainy Season by Paula T. Connolly
Cover of the book Finding Bix by Paula T. Connolly
Cover of the book The Mythical Bill by Paula T. Connolly
Cover of the book Natural Selections by Paula T. Connolly
Cover of the book The Small-Town Midwest by Paula T. Connolly
Cover of the book When War Becomes Personal by Paula T. Connolly
Cover of the book Paracritical Hinge by Paula T. Connolly
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy