African American literature and the law

Abstract

Reading African American literature through the lens of American legal history broadly construed and reading American legal history through the lens of African American literature reshapes both texts of American experience and provides new readings of the literature and new perspectives on the law. Consequences for the understanding of each socially constructed “text” of reality proceed from examining their common narratival practices, specifically calling for a new periodization and taxonomy of African American literature and for a new “romantic” history of American law.

Citation

Suggs, J.-C. (2008), "African American literature and the law", Sarat, A. (Ed.) Special Issue Law and Literature Reconsidered (Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol. 43), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 153-172. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1059-4337(07)00607-2