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The United States of the United Races: A Utopian History of Racial Mixing
Barack Obama’s historic presidency has re-inserted mixed race into the national conversation. While the troubled and pejorative history of racial amalgamation throughout U.S. history is a familiar story, The United States of the United Races reconsiders an understudied optimist tradition, one which has praised mixture as a means to create a new people, bring equality to all, and fulfill an American destiny. In this genealogy, Greg Carter re-envisions racial mixture as a vehicle for pride and a way for citizens to examine mixed America as a better America.
Tracing the centuries-long conversation that began with Hector St. John de Crevecoeur’s Letters of an American Farmer in the 1780s through to the Mulitracial Movement of the 1990s and the debates surrounding racial categories on the U.S. Census in the twenty-first century, Greg Carter explores a broad range of documents and moments, unearthing a new narrative that locates hope in racial mixture. Carter traces the reception of the concept as it has evolved over the years, from and decade to decade and century to century, wherein even minor changes in individual attitudes have paved the way for major changes in public response. The United States of the United Races sweeps away an ugly element of U.S. history, replacing it with a new understanding of race in America.
Tracing the centuries-long conversation that began with Hector St. John de Crevecoeur’s Letters of an American Farmer in the 1780s through to the Mulitracial Movement of the 1990s and the debates surrounding racial categories on the U.S. Census in the twenty-first century, Greg Carter explores a broad range of documents and moments, unearthing a new narrative that locates hope in racial mixture. Carter traces the reception of the concept as it has evolved over the years, from and decade to decade and century to century, wherein even minor changes in individual attitudes have paved the way for major changes in public response. The United States of the United Races sweeps away an ugly element of U.S. history, replacing it with a new understanding of race in America.
- GenresNonfiction
274 pages, Paperback
First published April 22, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 28, 2014
I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Carter before he left Austin (where he obtained his doctorate). We had a brief conversation over coffee. At the time I was considering a return to graduate school. It never happened. I am sad to say it probably never will. Nevertheless, I left our meeting feeling very excited about the prospects for Mixed Race Studies in the Academy.
As a woman of mixed race who is about to give birth to a son of even more mixed up race, I was very interested in reading Dr. Carter's detailing of how the cyclical, almost fetishistic, fascination with mixed race is really nothing new. As much as it might entertain the media to speculate about the fate of "post-racial" America, Dr. Carter's comprehensive historical treatment reveals quite definitively that this is not new terrain. His erudite explication enables us to put the current discussions into appropriate historical context.
As a woman of mixed race who is about to give birth to a son of even more mixed up race, I was very interested in reading Dr. Carter's detailing of how the cyclical, almost fetishistic, fascination with mixed race is really nothing new. As much as it might entertain the media to speculate about the fate of "post-racial" America, Dr. Carter's comprehensive historical treatment reveals quite definitively that this is not new terrain. His erudite explication enables us to put the current discussions into appropriate historical context.
October 5, 2013
You better hurry up and read this one cuz I'm going to interview the author on Mixed Race Radio!!!!!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews