The Black Indian in American Literature

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

   PDF

2. Introduction Within Our Bosom and on Our Borders: Negotiating Shared Black and Native Histories

   • Keely Byars-Nichols

   Pages 1-15

3. Assuming the Habit of the Country: John Marrant’s Narrative and Playing Indian

   • Keely Byars-Nichols

   Pages 16-34

4. Domesticated Savagery: Blackness and Indigeneity in Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick and Elizabeth Stoddard’s Temple House

   • Keely Byars-Nichols

   Pages 35-54

5. On Precarious Footing: William Faulkner’s Sam Fathers and the Specter of Slavery

   • Keely Byars-Nichols

   Pages 55-72

6. Black Nationalism and Native Separatism Unhinged: Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon

   • Keely Byars-Nichols

   Pages 73-93

7. The First Black Indian: Clinton in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Almanac of the Dead

   • Keely Byars-Nichols

   Pages 94-112

8. Conclusion Toward a Black Indian Poetics and Politics

   • Keely Byars-Nichols

   Pages 113-118

9. Back Matter

   Pages 119-129

   PDF

The first book-length study of the figure of the black Indian in American Literature, this project explores themes of nation, culture, and performativity. Moving from the Post-Independence period to the Contemporary era, Byars-Nichols re-centers a marginalized group challenges stereotypes and conventional ways of thinking about race and culture.

• American Literature
• African American Literature
• Black Indian
• Elizabeth Stoddard
• Herman Melville
• John Marrant
• Leslie Marmon Silko
• Native American Literature
• Toni Morrison
• William Faulkner
• America
• Amerikanische Literatur
• culture
• Narrative

"This is the first study of its kind - a very well-written and researched analysis of a literary field that is currently under-developed, if not entirely undeveloped. The research is rigorous; the critical framework is carefully located; the readings are detailed and fascinating; and the structure - drawing the reader chronologically through a range of literary developments surrounding the figure of the black Indian - works well to situate the study within existing historical studies. The book is firmly situated at the forefront of a new and exciting field of literary study." - Rebecca Tillett, Senior Lecturer in American Literature and Culture, University of East Anglia, UK, and author of Contemporary Native American Literature

"This book takes up the thorny and perhaps leftover question in black Indian Studies: not why classifications are made, but how such classifications become reified in communities and in the literature that seeks to serve them. Perpetually worrying the boundary between culture and race, between Indianness and blackness, Byars-Nichols brings new light to canonical works by Melville, Morrison, Faulkner, and Silko, providing insightful readings for scholars in the field. This study is very necessary - scholars will find much to engage here." - Sharon P. Holland, Associate Professor, English & African and African American Studies Departments, Duke University, USA

Keely Byars-Nichols is an Assistant Professor of English at Mount Olive College, USA.

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