Near black: White-to-black passing in nineteenth- and twentieth-century American culture

This dissertation explores narratives about reverse racial passing: cases when legally white individuals are imagined, by themselves or by others, as passing for black. It argues that ideas about proximity are central to racial constructions, enabling those who are literally “near black” to become metaphorically “near black.” While this concept emerges, during Reconstruction, from white anxieties, it soon evolves into fantasies of racial transformation; Near Black thus highlights fluctuations between fear and desire in the context of white passing. The dissertation examines literature, film, music, and memoirs, ultimately suggesting that white-to-black passing is a distinct narrative genre that flourishes during moments when racial lines are being questioned or blurred by the culture at large.