THE LITERATURE OF IMMIGRATION AND RACIAL FORMATION - Becoming White, Becoming Other, Becoming American in the Late Progressive Era

Sep 21, 2026

A scholarly study of how immigration and racial formation shape identity in American literature during the late Progressive Era. Tracing the processes of becoming white, becoming other, and becoming American, the book examines themes of assimilation, ethnic construction, and racialized embodiment. It includes analyses of major authors and genres, connects literary representations to changing social worlds, and provides notes, works cited, and an index supporting bibliographical research and critical interpretation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages159

Reading Time4 h 5 min

AccessFree to download

Acknowledgments

Preface

Questioning Race, Questioning

Whiteness

Chapter One Introduction: Race, Whiteness, and Women

Chapter Two Coming Into Whiteness: Mary Antin’s Claim to Assimilation

Chapter Three “Why couldn’t we have been either one thing or the other?” Monolithic Identity and Ethnic Construction in the Fiction and Autobiography of Sui Sin Far

Chapter Four “This hideous little pickaninny” and the Formation of Bohemian Whiteness: Race, Cultural Pluralism, and Willa Cather’s My Ántonia

Epilogue The Legacy of Progressive Era Racial Formation and the Re-Racialization of Immigrant Bodies

Notes

Works Cited

Index

STUDIES IN AMERICAN POPULAR HlSTORY AND CULTURE Edited by Jerome Nadelhaft University of Maine A ROUTLEDGE SERIES STUDIES IN AMERICAN POPULAR HISTORY AND CULTURE JEROME NADELHAFT, General Editor THE FACTORY GIRL AND THE SEAMSTRESS Imagining Gender and Class in Nineteenth Century American Fiction Amal Amireh WRITING JAZZ Race, Nationalism, and Modern Culture in the 1920s Nicholas M.Evans AUTOMOBILITY Social Changes in the American South, 1909±1939 Corey T.Lesseig ACTORS AND ACTIVISTS Politics, Performance, and Exchange Among Social Worlds David A.Schlossman STUDIES IN THE LAND The Northeast Corner David C.Smith FIRST Do No HARM Empathy and the Writing of Medical Journal Articles Mary E.Knatterud PIETY AND POWER Gender and Religious Culture in the American Colonies, 1630± 1700 Leslie Lindenauer RACE-ING MASCULINITY Identity in Contemporary U.S. Men's Writing John Christopher Cunningham CRIME AND THE NATION Prison Reform and Popular Fiction in Philadelphia, 1786± 1800 Peter Okun FOOD IN FILM A Culinary Performance of Communication Jane Ferry DECONSTRUCTING POSTWWII NEW YORK CITY The Literature, Art, Jazz and Architecture of an Emerging Global Capital Robert Bennett RETHINKING THE RED SCARE The Lusk Committee and New York's Crusade against Radicalism, 1919±1923 Todd J.Pfannestiel HOLLYWOOD AND THE RISE OF PHYSICAL CULTURE Heather Addison HOMELESSNESS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE Romaticism, Realism, and Testimony iii John Allen No WAY OF KNOWING Crime, Urban Legends, and the Internet Pamela Donovan THE MAKING OF THE PRIMITIVE BAPTISTS A Cultural and Intellectual History of the Antimission Movement, 1800±1840 James R.Mathis WOMEN AND COMEDY IN SOLO PERFORMANCE Phyllis Diller, Lily Tomlin, and Roseanne Suzanne Lavin THE LITERATURE OF IMMIGRATION AND RACIAL FORMATION Becoming White, Becoming Other, Becoming American in the Late Progressive Era Linda Joyce Brown ROUTLEDGE New York & London Published in 2004 by Routledge 29 West 35th Street NewYork, NY 10001 Published in Great Britain by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane London EC4P 4EE Copyright © 2004 by Routledge Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group. This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of [eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk](eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk).” All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by an electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN 0-203-32772-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-415-94931-9 (Print Edition) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Brown, Linda Joyce, 1967- The literature of immigration and racial formation : becoming white, becoming other, becoming American in the late Progressive Era / Linda Joyce Brown. [p. cm](p. cm).—(Studies in American popular history and culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-415-94931-9 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. American literature—20th century—History and criticism. 2. Emigration and immigration in literature. 3. American literature—Women authors—History and criticism. 4. Immigrants’ writings, American—History and criticism. 5. Difference (Psychology) in literature. 6. Passing (Identity) in literature. 7. Women immigrants in literature. 8. Ethnicity in literature. 9. Whites in literature. 10. Race in literature. I. Title. II. Series: American popular history and culture (Routledge (Firm)) PS228 .E55B76 2004 810.9′3522′09041–dc22 2004001247 vi ForAl Cheverine and For my parents, Mary Dostert Brown and Paul Asa Brown Table of Contents Acknowledgments ix Preface Questio

FAQs

What is the central focus of the book?

The book focuses on how immigration and racial formation influence identity in American literature in the late Progressive Era, emphasizing becoming white, becoming other, and becoming American.

How does the book structure its main arguments?

It organizes its analysis around a preface and thematic sections, then multiple chapters and an epilogue that develop and extend the argument.

Which kinds of supporting materials are included?

The volume includes notes, works cited, and an index, and it also states that it includes bibliographical references.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Seraphina