Racial awareness and resistance in Jessie Redmon Fauset’s Plum Bun: A Novel Without a Moral

Abstract

The origin of the racist approaches towards black people living in America dates back to the beginning of the 17th century. A small number of Africans brought to the Virginia colony by ships in that period were considered captives, but were not slaves in the current sense because they could have freedom and some land after working for a certain period of time. It was a form of indentured slavery. However, wealthy landowners soon concluded that this was a problem, and there followed a rapid transition from indentured slavery to slavery. By the mid-18th century, indentured slavery was almost nonexistent. With the American Revolution in the second half of the 18th century, the idea that slavery was a social problem predominated and many states, mostly in the north, began to enact freedom laws. But unfortunately, none of the laws enacted have been sincere or comprehensive enough to give black people a voice or freedom in its fullest sense. With the Great Migration that started in the 1910s, millions of black citizens immigrated to the Northern regions, especially New York, with the dream of equality and freedom. This was the event triggering the Harlem Renaissance, which began in the 1920s. With the Renaissance, black people had the opportunity to express their identity and art with their own style for the first time in their history. The writers of the period not only raised awareness about the racism they were exposed to, but also reflected the idea of resistance and being proud of their own identity. Jessie Redmon Fauset occupies a prominent place among these writers and successfully addresses the themes mentioned. This study examines racial awareness and resistance in Fauset’s Plum Bun: A Novel Without a Moral.