Racing and (E)Racing Language: Living with the Color of Our Words

This anthology—the first of its kind—considers the poetry, critical analysis of literature and language, personal narrative, dialogue and political speech by African American, Asian American, and European American authors. Racing and (E)Racing Language explores genres in American literature from the 1850s through the 1990s—from work songs to poetry; from fiction to theater. This book sheds light on many kinds of American language and throws into relief the written word as a shifting common ground—a charged and unpredictable space—where different voices, ethnic groups, and classes exert different kinds and varying degrees of influence on one another.