Fugitive Science: Empiricism and Freedom in Early African

Fugitive Science: Empiricism and Freedom in Early African American Culture (America and the Long 19th Century, 10)

Exposes the influential work of a group of black artists to confront and refute scientific racism.Â

Traversing the archives of early African American literature, performance, and visual culture, Britt Rusert uncovers the dynamic experiments of a group of black writers, artists, and performers. Fugitive Science chronicles a little-known story about race and science in America. While the history of scientific racism in the nineteenth century has been well-documented, there was also a counter-movement of African Americans who worked to refute its claims. Â

Far from rejecting science, these figures were careful readers of antebellum science who linked diverse fieldsâ€”from astronomy to physiologyâ€”to both on-the-ground activism and more speculative forms of knowledge creation. Routinely excluded from institutions of scientific learning and training, they transformed cultural spaces like the page, the stage, the parlor, and even the pulpit into laboratories of knowledge and experimentation. From the recovery of neglected figures like Robert Benjamin Lewis, Hosea Easton, and Sarah Mapps Douglass, to new accounts of Martin Delany, Henry Box Brown, and Frederick Douglass, Fugitive Science makes natural science central to how we understand the origins and development of African American literature and culture.Â

This distinct and pioneering book will spark interest from anyone wishing to learn more on race and society.Â
Country USA
Brand NYU Press
Manufacturer NYU Press
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber 19 black and white illustrations
ReleaseDate 2017-04-18
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781479847662

Country	USA
Brand	NYU Press
Manufacturer	NYU Press
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	19 black and white illustrations
ReleaseDate	2017-04-18
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781479847662

Fugitive Science: Empiricism and Freedom in Early African American Culture (America and the Long 19th Century, 10)

Customers who purchased this also purchased....