Interconnections

This collection builds on decades of interdisciplinary work by historians of African American women as well as scholars of feminist and critical race theory bridging the gap between well-developed theories of race gender and power and the practice of historical research. It examines how racial and gender identity is constructed from individuals' lived experiences in specific historical contexts such as westward expansion civil rights movements or economic depression as well as by national and transnational debates over marriage citizenship and sexual mores. All of these essays consider multiple aspects of identity including sexuality class religion and nationality among others but the volume emphasizes gender and race as principal bases of identity and locations of power and oppression in American history.