Book contents
- Whiteness and American Literature
- Cambridge Themes in American Literature and Culture
- Whiteness and American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Whiteness and National Identity
- Chapter 1 The Imperial Sounds of Whiteness
- Chapter 2 Whiteness in Late Nineteenth-Century Literature and Law
- Chapter 3 Poor White People in the Eugenic Imagination
- Chapter 4 White Nationalism
- Chapter 5 Whiteness and the US–Mexico Border
- Chapter 6 How Hollywood Pictures Whiteness
- Chapter 7 Whiteface Minstrels, Stage Europeans, and Twenty-First-Century Television Dramas
- Part II Whiteness in the American Literary Imagination
- Part III Approaches to Whiteness
- Further Reading
- Index
Chapter 3 - Poor White People in the Eugenic Imagination
from Part I - Whiteness and National Identity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 June 2025
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Book contents
- Whiteness and American Literature
- Cambridge Themes in American Literature and Culture
- Whiteness and American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Whiteness and National Identity
- Chapter 1 The Imperial Sounds of Whiteness
- Chapter 2 Whiteness in Late Nineteenth-Century Literature and Law
- Chapter 3 Poor White People in the Eugenic Imagination
- Chapter 4 White Nationalism
- Chapter 5 Whiteness and the US–Mexico Border
- Chapter 6 How Hollywood Pictures Whiteness
- Chapter 7 Whiteface Minstrels, Stage Europeans, and Twenty-First-Century Television Dramas
- Part II Whiteness in the American Literary Imagination
- Part III Approaches to Whiteness
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
In the US at the turn of the twentieth century, poor whites became objects of both fascination and empirical research by eugenicists and race scientists. Existing stigmas and stereotypes of poor whites were rarely challenged by these progressive reformers bent on improving American society though eugenic programs of human betterment. Researchers imagined and portrayed poor whites as a grave dysgenic threat to the racial purity of other whites. Their very existence was seen as inimical to the ideals of white supremacy that fueled the Social Darwinism of the era. As a result, poor whites were targeted for institutionalization and compulsory sterilization and durable stigmatypes of poor whites were formed.
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- Whiteness and American Literature , pp. 43 - 57Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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