Black American History

The fictitious events of this book take place shortly after the end of the Civil War, with tensions high between Whites and Blacks and between Southerners and Northerners. The narrator several times describes conversations he joined discussing “the Negro question”: how Blacks should be treated post-Civil War and what rights they are entitled to. All of the conversations he was in and all of the observations he made were in context of the relationships between Whites and Blacks in different parts of the country and among different social strata. The narrator likely made such observations throughout his life to help determine what class and what race he wanted to belong to, a choice available to him only because of his good upbringing and his light skin color. He easily could fit in with educated Whites or Blacks, but something would always keep drawing him to the...