Index

Africa: class and, 109, 114; empire and, 108, 113; fantasy and, 106–7, 108, 111–12, 113; Ghana, 109, 110; global hierarchy and, 51, 113, 114–15, 122; Senegal, 106–7, 108–10, 111, 115, 116; South Africa, 15, 230n41
Afro-pessimism, 10, 34, 158, 159–61, 198. See also slavery; social death
Alexander, Elizabeth, 80, 131, 133, 153, 163, 233n61
anthropology: race and, 113–14, 248n22
Ashe, Bertram, 21, 165

Baartman, Sarah, 118–19
Baker, Courtney, 255n42
Bambara, Toni Cade, 49
beauty, 17–18. See also colorism; embodiment
Best, Stephen, 10
biraciality. See mixed-race identity
Black, White, and Jewish (Walker), 62, 66–74, 81; class and, 69–71, 72–73; skin color in, 67, 71, 72
black church, 100
Black Girl in Paris (Youngblood), 93, 96; class and, 98; embodiment and, 125–27; labor and, 116–18, 119; mobility and, 95; racial violence and, 102, 103–4, 123; setting and, 97, 98; writing and, 128–29
Black Lives Matter, 6, 20; era of, 35, 165, 203, 205
body. See embodiment
Boudreau, Brenda, 78
Bradley, Rizvana, 161, 191
Broeck, Sabine, 159–60
Browne, Simone, 84, 217, 226n3

Campt, Tina, 131, 132, 133, 153
capital, 9, 62, 66, 169. See also cultural capital; money
capitalism, 1, 3, 164, 239n31; class structure and, 5; labor and, 180; neoliberalism and, 234n69; slavery and, 158; racial, 10, 229n23. See also labor; Marxism
carrington, andré, 42, 225n3, 242n64, 250n3
Caucasia (Senna), 62, 74, 76–91; blackness in, 79, 80, 84, 85, 90; class in, 78–79; Jewishness in, 77; mixed-race identity in, 84, 89–90; whiteness in, 78, 81–84, 86–90
Chavers, Linda, 16, 19
Citizen (Rankine), 203, 204, 207–8, 211, 212, 219–20
clothing, 1, 2, 32, 78, 83, 180, 202, 216, 218, 226
Coates, Ta-Nehisi, 31, 35, 80, 86, 195
college. See education
colorism, 16, 17–18, 63, 231n45, 232n48. See also skin color
consumption, 1, 31, 70, 110, 112, 205, 207, 239n31. See also capitalism
contemporary period, 19–21, 165, 232n55, 234n69. See also temporality
Cooper, Brittney, 247n12, 255n45
Cottom, Tressie McMillan, 17, 40, 232n48
Crawford, Margo, 24, 155, 237n17, 243n65
Crawley, Ashon, 247n13
C.S.A. (Willmott), 157, 158
cultural capital, 17, 18–19, 38, 167, 169; skin color and, 17, 213
currency. See money

death, black: American history and, 163, 184; black life and, 161; inevitability of, 172, 175, 182–83, 212; premature, 132; refusal of, 172, 175–76; ubiquity of, 203, 212. See also social death
Derricotte, Toi, 43, 54
Dunbar, Eve, 95–96, 246n4

education, 236n10; aspiration and, 101, 120, 168; class and, 2, 5, 12, 39, 51, 72, 96, 98, 136; historically black colleges and universities and, 37; inequality and, 37, 40, 167; opportunity and, 47; social mobility and, 40, 236n10
Edwards, Brent Hayes, 246n11
Edwards, Erica, 162, 171
Elam, Michelle, 77
Ellis, Trey, 22, 61–62, 63, 64–66, 67, 70, 139, 233n59, 242n56
Ellison, Ralph, 65, 146
embodiment, 10, 25, 27, 50, 105, 125, 212; blackness and, 1, 2, 9, 41, 54–55, 85, 120, 122, 151, 203, 207; black women and, 17, 70, 121, 124, 125–26, 235n6, 237n19; privilege and, 2, 17, 19, 42, 49–50, 58, 59, 70, 71–72, 218
Erasure (Everett), 132, 134–55, 207; art and, 148–49, 150–51; blackness and, 135–36, 137–38, 142–43, 147, 150, 152–53, 155; class and, 136, 139, 141–42, 144–46; exceptionalism and, 140–41; futurity and, 134, 155; interiority and, 134, 146, 153, 155; writing and, 143–44
Everett, Percival, 132, 144, 146, 233n59; Erasure and, 134–55, 207

Fanon, Frantz, 2, 131–32, 140–41, 226n3, 249n3
Felski, Rita, 5
Fleetwood, Nicole, 41, 230n35, 237n19
futurity, 132–33, 134, 135, 143, 153, 249n3. See also temporality

Gaines, Kevin Kelly, 166
Gatens, Moira, 237n19
geography: blackness and, 51, 57, 92, 93–94, 96, 106–7, 109, 114, 247n16; dreamscape and, 107, 108, 112; privilege and, 95; writing and, 128. See also travel
Gilroy, Paul, 143, 241n45
Graham, Lawrence Otis, 37–40
Gumbs, Alexis Pauline, 250n3

Hall, Stuart, 4
Harris, Cheryl, 62, 63, 84, 245n36
Harris, LaShawn, 117
Harris, Trudier, 44
Hartman, Saidiya, 62, 63–64, 66, 90, 94; Lose Your Mother and, 109, 110, 114–15
Henderson, Lisa, 5, 228n12
He Sleeps (McKnight), 93, 94, 105–16, 125, 138, 250n16; Africa and, 106–7, 108, 112–16; blackness and, 102–3, 104, 124; class and, 98, 108–11; location and, 95–96, 97; masculinity and, 111–12; racial violence and, 103, 104
Holland, Sharon, 132, 142–43, 153, 249n3
home, 112, 123, 208, 215–16
homophobia, 123, 241n50. See also sexuality
Hughes, Bob, 1–3, 201, 202, 226n1
Hunter, Marcus Anthony, 251n34

Insecure (Rae), 203, 204–7, 208, 213, 214, 215–16
interiority, 28, 129, 211; blackness and, 65, 80, 91, 131, 133, 134, 153–54, 155, 163, 175
interracial relationships, 67, 122–23, 125, 139, 206–7, 237n16, 244n15. See also mixed-race identity
Invisible Man (Ellison), 146

John Henry Days (Whitehead), 163, 164, 176–99; blackness and, 187–89, 198; black women and, 191; choice and, 189–90, 194, 196–97, 198; death and, 181–85, 190, 194–95, 196, 199; labor and, 176–77, 178–82, 192, 193, 195; privilege and, 186–87, 190–91, 192; vulnerability and, 192
Johnson, Jessica Marie, 25
Joseph, Ralina, 79, 84

Keeling, Kara, 132, 249n3, 250n5
Kerr, Audrey Elisa, 63

labor, 117, 118, 121–22, 163, 180, 191–93, 196; contract, 177, 178; gender and, 119, 120; immigration and, 248n26; sexual, 120–21, 126–27, 249n34. See also working class
Lacy, Karyn, 39
Latinidad, 69–70, 71
Lee, Andrea, 26, 31, 233n59; Sarah Phillips and, 26–32, 102
Lee, Spike, 33, 37, 233n59, 241n45; School Daze and, 37, 42, 48–50, 51, 52, 53–54, 55–56, 58, 59
Lubiano, Wahneema, 49, 51, 56

Man Gone Down (Thomas), 34, 163, 164–76; abjection and, 164, 169–71; blackness and, 170, 171, 172, 173, 175; class status and, 167–68, 169, 171, 173; death and, 172, 175–76; economic precarity and, 166–67, 169, 176; embodiment and, 168–69; history and, 163, 164; rape and, 164; resistance and, 170, 172, 174; temporality and, 165; vulnerability and, 163, 164, 166, 168, 172, 174, 176
Marxism, 3, 4, 5. See also capital; labor; working class
McCormick, Adrienne, 27, 29, 32
McKittrick, Katherine, 93, 94, 95, 128–29, 253n15; Clyde Woods and, 96, 246n5
McKnight, Reginald, 46, 93, 96, 233n59; He Sleeps and, 93, 94, 105–16, 125, 138, 250n16
McMillan, Uri, 150
Mitchell, Michele, 166
mixed-race identity, 43, 45, 63, 67–68, 74, 237n16; blackness and, 64, 90, 91, 238n27; skin color and, 43, 232n54, 243n7. See also interracial relationships
mobility. See travel
money, 10, 48, 71–72, 101, 108; anti-Semitism and, 77; sexual labor and, 126, 169; status and, 78, 110, 145. See also capital
Morrison, Toni, 21, 33, 37, 163, 213, 233n59, 239n29, 240n37, 255n40; Tar Baby and, 37, 42, 44–48, 50–52, 53, 54–55, 56–58, 59, 239n29, 239n32, 244n16
mulatta/mulatto. See mixed-race identity
Mullen, Harryette, 38
Muraskin, William, 42
Murray, Rolland, 24, 144

Neal, Mark Anthony, 21, 111, 165, 233n58, 233n61
Nealon, Jeffrey, 254n30
neoliberalism, 20, 22, 24, 234n69
Newton, Sir Isaac, 154–55
Nyong’o, Tavia, 183–84, 255n44

Obama, Barack, 22, 165, 203, 205, 257n7
Ortner, Sherry, 5, 77
Our Kind of People (Graham), 37–40

Pabst, Naomi, 90, 237n16, 238n27, 243n7
Packer, Z. Z., 127
Perry, Imani, 55, 140, 141
police: Black Lives Matter and, 6, 205, 206, 217; race/racism and, 83, 202, 211, 216; racial profiling and, 14, 16, 83, 201, 207–8; violence and, 174, 187, 205, 206, 207–8, 210, 211, 214, 217; vulnerability and, 207, 209–10, 212–14, 218
postmodernity, 105, 148, 254n30; blackness and, 44, 46, 48, 228n11, 240n37
post-racial, 20, 134, 155, 165, 171–72, 203
poverty: blackness and, 14, 15, 26, 47, 73, 105, 139, 144, 171; geography and, 109; whiteness and, 78, 139
property, 66; afterlife of, 63, 90, 91–92; blackness and, 66; class and, 8–9, 64; slavery and, 8–9, 63–64; whiteness and, 66, 80, 90, 91, 245n36. See also money; slavery

Queen Sugar (DuVernay), 35, 203–4, 208–12, 213, 214–15, 216–19
queerness. See sexuality

Rae, Issa, 14, 214, 230n41, 257n7; Insecure and, 14, 204–7, 208, 213, 214, 215–16; Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl and, 14–15
Raimon, Eva, 43
Rankine, Claudia, 35, 201, 203; Citizen and, 201, 203, 204, 207–8, 211, 212, 219–20
rape, 18, 29, 30, 32, 127, 164
respectability politics, 22, 100, 121, 127, 187, 247n12
Ryan, Judylyn, 44–45

Sarah Phillips (Andrea Lee), 26–32, 102, 118, 119; black bourgeoisie in, 26, 29, 31, 32; blackness in, 26–27; embodiment in, 27, 29–30, 32; racism in, 28; vulnerability in, 31
School Daze (Spike Lee): black elites in, 52; blackness in, 59; class conflict in, 37, 42, 51, 55–56, 58; geography in, 51; hair in, 53–54, 58; racialized aesthetics in, 48–50, 56, 58; skin color in, 37, 42, 48–49, 52
Scott, Darieck, 23, 85–86, 170
Senna, Danzy, 46, 62, 63, 66, 75–76, 80, 233n59; Caucasia and, 62, 74, 76–91
Sexton, Jared, 8, 163, 198, 244n15; on Afro-pessimism, 157, 160; black death, 183, 199; blackness, 162; slavery, 158
sexuality: black women and, 100, 127; futurity and, 132, 249n3; privilege and, 49–50; queer, 50, 123, 126, 133–34, 211, 241n50, 249n3, 250n5; race and, 19, 25, 106, 207
Sharpe, Christina, 160–61, 162
shopping. See consumption
skin color, 15, 16, 17–18, 19, 38, 71, 232n48; bias and, 231n45; men and, 49; mixed-race and, 43, 238n27, 243n7; privilege and, 41, 42, 44–46, 50, 52, 213, 232n54, 242n57; white-passing and, 80, 90, 230n41, 258n10. See also colorism
slavery, 16, 18, 29, 32, 63–64, 68, 120, 132, 157–58, 159–61, 229n23; Africa and, 109, 115; capital and, 9, 10; class and, 33, 38, 39, 99, 187. See also property; social death
Smith, Valerie, 42
Snorton, C. Riley, 25–26, 249n3
social death, 34, 142, 147, 159, 163, 187, 199. See also Afro-pessimism; slavery
Spillers, Hortense, 8–10, 159, 163, 235n6, 240n39
Stagolee, 142
Starbucks, 1, 201–2
Stephens, Michelle Ann, 108

Tar Baby (Morrison), 37, 244n16; aspiration in, 47; class conflict in, 42, 44–45, 50–52, 58; hair in, 54–55, 56–57, 58–59; skin color in, 45–46, 52, 53; poverty in, 47–48; privilege in, 48, 53, 57–58, 59, 239n29, 239n32; whiteness in, 46–47
temporality: African American literature and, 19–22; blackness and, 135, 153; black studies and, 132, 249n3; contemporary era and, 19–21, 165, 234n69; setting and, 95; slavery and, 158. See also futurity
Thomas, Greg, 11
Thomas, Michael, 46, 163, 164, 169, 233n59; Man Gone Down, 34, 163, 164–76
Thompson, Lisa B., 3
time. See temporality
travel, 27, 47, 102, 105; black Americans and, 104, 106, 108, 109, 114; black women and, 119. See also geography

Venus, Hottentot, 118–19
violence: police, 174, 207–8, 211–12, 213–14; racial, 1–2, 84, 102, 103–4, 106, 123, 125, 150–51, 161–62, 203; sexual, 29, 32, 164–65; state, 6, 151, 214
vulnerability, 6, 48, 164; embodiment and, 171, 178; gender and, 10, 121, 127; geography and, 102, 105; race and, 2, 85, 138, 168, 172, 213–14, 218

Walker, Rebecca, 33, 62, 66, 91, 233n59; Black, White, and Jewish and, 62, 66–74, 81
Warren, Kenneth, 20, 254n35
wealth: American, 109; blackness and, 7, 15; generational, 99; inequality and, 166, 254n32; Jewishness and, 77; whiteness and, 69, 70, 77, 78, 171, 213. See also money
Weheliye, Alexander, 10–11
West, Cornel, 50
White, E. Frances, 111
Whitehead, Colson, 34, 163, 179, 180, 233n59, 255n41; John Henry Days, 34, 163, 164, 176–99; Sag Harbor, 136
whiteness: black privilege and, 37, 41, 46–47, 52, 115, 139; colorism and, 16–18; Jewishness and, 77; material privilege and, 73, 81, 95; property and, 61, 62–63, 80, 90–91; racial mixture and, 18–19, 46, 67–68, 69, 237n17, 245n36; racism and, 81–82, 83–84; resistance to, 84–85, 86, 88, 89–90; white privilege and, 44, 58, 202; working class status and, 78
Wilderson, Frank, 10, 159, 160, 161, 214
Williams, Bianca, 109
Williams, Jennifer D., 119
Williams, Patricia, 14, 16, 91, 152
Williams, Raymond, 23
Williamson, Terrion, 162–63, 198
Willmott, Kevin, 157; C.S.A. film, 157, 158
Woods, Clyde: Katherine McKittrick and, 96, 246n5
work. See labor
working class: aesthetics and, 56; black people, 4, 47, 116, 212, 257n6; class conflict and, 55, 56–57, 66, 72, 257n6; embodiment and, 70; employment and, 99; skin color and, 72; social mobility and, 40, 47–48, 167; whites, 78. See also labor

Young, Harvey, 8, 11, 14
Youngblood, Shay, 33, 93, 95, 96, 97, 233n59; Black Girl in Paris and, 93, 95–98, 102–4, 116–19, 123, 125–29

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