One drop of blood : the American misadventure of race

A bold and original retelling of the story of race in America Why has a nation founded upon precepts of freedom and universal humanity continually produced, through its preoccupation with race, a divided and constrained populace? This question is the starting point for Scott Malcomson's riveting and deeply researched account, which amplifies history with memoir and reportage. From the beginning, Malcomson shows, a nation obsessed with invention began to create a new idea of race, investing it with unprecedented moral and social meaning. A succession of visionaries and opportunists, self-promoters and would-be reformers carried on the process, helping to define "black," "white," and "Indian" in opposition to one another, and in service to the aspirations and anxieties of each era. But the people who had to live within those definitions found them constraining. They sought to escape the limits of race imposed by escaping from other races or by controlling, confining, eliminating, or absorbing them, in a sad, absurd parade of events. Such efforts have never truly succeeded, yet their legacy haunts us, as we unhappily re-enact the drama of separatism in our schools, workplaces, and communities. By not only recounting the shared American tragicomedy of race but helping us to own, even to embrace it, this important book offers us a way at last to move beyond it.

A bold and original retelling of the story of race in America

Why has a nation founded upon precepts of freedom and universal humanity continually produced, through its preoccupation with race, a divided and constrained populace? This question is the starting point for Scott Malcomson's riveting and deeply researched account, which amplifies history with memoir and reportage.

From the beginning, Malcomson shows, a nation obsessed with invention began to create a new idea of race, investing it with unprecedented moral and social meaning. A succession of visionaries and opportunists, self-promoters and would-be reformers carried on the process, helping to define "black," "white," and "Indian" in opposition to one another, and in service to the aspirations and anxieties of each era. But the people who had to live within those definitions found them constraining. They sought to escape the limits of race imposed by escaping from other races or by controlling, confining, eliminating, or absorbing them, in a sad, absurd parade of events. Such efforts have never truly succeeded, yet their legacy haunts us, as we unhappily re-enact the drama of separatism in our schools, workplaces, and communities. By not only recounting the shared American tragicomedy of race but helping us to own, even to embrace it, this important book offers us a way at last to move beyond it.

Why has a nation dedicated to freedom and universal ideals continually produced, through its obsession with race, an unhappily divided people? Scott L. Malcomson's search for an answer took him to communities across the country and deep into our past. From Virginia colonists "going native" onward, Malcomson argues, Americans, in their mania for self-invention, pioneered an idea of race that gave it unprecedented moral and social importance. A parade of idealists, pragmatists, and opportunists -- from Ben Franklin to Tecumseh, Washington Irving to Bobby Seale -- defined "Indian," "black," and "white" in relation to one another and in service to the aspirations and anxieties of each era. Yet these definitions have never been gladly adopted by the people they were meant to describe. To escape the limits of race, Americans have continually attempted to escape from other races -- by founding all-black towns, for example -- or to nullify race by confining, eliminating, or absorbing one another. From Puritan enslavement of Indians to the separatism we enact daily in our schools and neighborhoods, Americans have perpetually engaged with and fled from other Americans along racial lines. By not only recounting our nation's most distinctive and enduring drama but helping us to own it -- even to embrace it -- this redemptive book offers a way to move forward. - Jacket flap. "Why has a nation dedicated to freedom and universal ideals continually produced, through its obsession with race, an unhappily divided people? Scott L. Malcomson's search for an answer took him to communities across the country and deep into our past. From Virginia colonists "going native" onward, Malcomson argues, Americans, in their mania for self-invention, pioneered an idea of race that gave it unprecedented moral and social importance. A parade of idealists, pragmatists, and opportunists - from Ben Franklin to Tecumseh, Washington Irving to Bobby Seale - defined "Indian," "black," and "white" in relation to one another and in service to the aspirations and anxieties of each era. Yet these definitions have never been gladly adopted by the people they were meant to describe. To escape the limits of race, Americans have continually attempted to escape from other races - by founding all-black towns, for example - or to nullify race by confining, eliminating, or absorbing one another. From Puritan enslavement of Indians to the separatism we enact daily in our schools and neighborhoods, Americans have perpetually engaged with and fled from other Americans along racial lines. By not only recounting our nation's most distinctive and enduring drama but helping us to own it - even to embrace it - this redemptive book offers a way to move forward."--BOOK JACKET. This business of angels Part 1 : An Indian country. "All things in aboundance" : colonial America as Eden "A new kind of disorder" : a Cherokee utopia and the rise of racial separatism 1730-1830 "Welcome, negro, welcome" : the Indian as slave and slaveholder "Grand and great : the future state" : some twentieth-century solutions to the Indian problem Homelands Part 2 : The republic of new Africa. "The grand ham" : racial imagination in the old world "Coal black is better than another hue" : love and race in Shakespeare's England "We can be as separate as the fingers" : segregation from the American Revolution to the Gilded Age The new negro : the beautiful despair of the Harlem Renaissance "This special way of life" Part 3 : White flight. "The essence of whiteness" : Spain, England, and the colors of empire "The freest of all human beings" : westward expansion and the price of liberty The Ethiopian opera : white masks in blackface minstrelsy "Old racial cries, old racial ties" Part 4 : A family in time. A present from John Sutter Seize the time Have mercy Down to the river A study of a great dichotomy in American history explores why a country dedicated to freedom and universal ideals has created a people divided along ethnic lines. 25,000 first printing.