The mask of memory : white racial fantasy after the Civil War / Jason R. Young.

Author/creator Young, Jason R. author.
Format Book
PublicationChapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2026]
Descriptionxiv, 256 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.
Subjects

SeriesBoundless South
Boundless South.
Contents Cutting a Path through Carolina: Mapping South Carolina's Racial (Il)logics -- The Color of Sound: The Society for the Preservation of Spirituals and the Politics of Authenticity -- An Antebellum Eden: Memoir and the Making of a Meaningful Past -- Writing the Past-Perfect: Slavery and Memory in Letters and Literature -- Setting the Plantation Scene: The Visual Logics of Slavery.
Abstract "Many of the sights and sounds that Americans associate with slavery are rooted in a grand historical myth. The image of the Big House, sitting atop carefully manicured rolling green hills is, in large part, a fantasy--as is the idea of the plantation as an expansive family home to chivalrous planters and happy slaves. Still, these myths persist. Jason R. Young explores the persistence of these myths and the historical memory of slavery by focusing on the elite white mythmakers who helped shape our understanding of slavery. In the early twentieth century, a group of white writers, artists, and performers from the cultural hub of Charleston, South Carolina, created and curated a highly sanitized view of slavery. They imagined a once and future plantation society that would reestablish them as the proper heirs of the slave past. In the process, they crafted a set of dangerously durable and virulent stereotypes about slavery. Focusing on literature, art, and performance, Young examines both the power and the folly of these ideas. In uncovering the origins of these racial myths, The Mask of Memory resists these racial fantasies and challenges their stubborn resurgence in our own time"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in other formebook version : 9781469694382
LCCN 2025045071
ISBN9781469694344 hardcover
ISBN1469694344 hardcover
ISBN9781469694351 paperback
ISBN1469694352 paperback
ISBNelectronic publication
ISBNelectronic book
ISBNelectronic book
Standard identifier# CIPO000367033

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Joyner New Books E441 .Y68 2026 ✔ Available Want This?