In Circulating Jim Crow (Columbia University Press), Associate Professor Adam McKible explores how the Saturday Evening Post helped justify racism and white supremacy by publishing works by white authors that made heavy use of paternalistic tropes and demeaning humor, portraying Jim Crow segregation and violence as simple common sense.

Circulating Jim Crow demonstrates how the Post used stereotypical dialect fiction to promulgate white supremacist ideology and dismiss Black achievements, citizenship, and humanity. McKible tells the story of editor George Horace Lorimer's rise to prominence and examines the white authors who provided the editor and his readers with the caricatures they craved. He also explores how Black writers of the Harlem Renaissance pushed back against the Post and its commodified racism. Revealing the role of the Saturday Evening Post in normalizing racism for millions of readers, this book also offers a new understanding of how Black writers challenged Jim Crow ideology.

tells the story of Lorimer’s rise to prominence and examines the white authors who provided the editor and his readers with the caricatures they craved. He also explores how Black writers of the Harlem Renaissance pushed back against the Post and its commodified racism.

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Joining Professor McKible are

Moderator: Jean Mills, Associate Professor of English, John Jay College
Discussant: Kelley Kreitz, Associate Professor of English, Pace University
Discussant: Jesse W. Schwartz, Professor of English, LaGuardia Community College

This event, with refreshments, is open to the public. All members of the John Jay community, including classes, students, faculty, staff, alums, and friends, are welcome to attend and actively participate. 

Sponsored by the Office for the Advancement of Research