Cross Racial Alliance and the Turning Point of Slavery in A
Mercy  October 27, 2010  Download Story John Shanahan  Scholars
of U.S. Culture and History Sharon Holland, Thomas Foster,
Francesca Royster and John Shanahan explore the unexpected
fluidity of interpersonal relationships across race and class in
colonial America.  Toni Morrison’s novel A Mercy represents a
wide range of alliances between white indentured servants and
free blacks, between enslaved and free blacks, between Native
Americans and blacks, between mistresses and servants, and
between hetero and non-heteronormative men. How do these
relationships challenge our assumptions about traditional
categories of identity and difference? What are the points of
shared stakes and tension between groups? How and why did such
tenuous communities change?  Co-sponsored by DePaul University’s
Department of English.   Recorded Wednesday, October 27, 2010 at
DePaul University's John R. Cortelyou Commons Building.