Manliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917University of Chicago Press, 2008 M04 7 - 322 pages When former heavyweight champion Jim Jeffries came out of retirement on the fourth of July, 1910 to fight current black heavywight champion Jack Johnson in Reno, Nevada, he boasted that he was doing it "for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a negro." Jeffries, though, was trounced. Whites everywhere rioted. The furor, Gail Bederman demonstrates, was part of two fundamental and volatile national obsessions: manhood and racial dominance. In turn-of-the-century America, cultural ideals of manhood changed profoundly, as Victorian notions of self-restrained, moral manliness were challenged by ideals of an aggressive, overtly sexualized masculinity. Bederman traces this shift in values and shows how it brought together two seemingly contradictory ideals: the unfettered virility of racially "primitive" men and the refined superiority of "civilized" white men. Focusing on the lives and works of four very different Americans—Theodore Roosevelt, educator G. Stanley Hall, Ida B. Wells, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman—she illuminates the ideological, cultural, and social interests these ideals came to serve. |
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Page vii
... Racial Recapitulation , and the Neurasthenic Paradox 77 CHAPTER 4 " Not to Sex - But to Race ! " Charlotte Perkins Gilman , Civilized Anglo - Saxon Womanhood , and the Return of the Primitive Rapist 121 CHAPTER 5 Theodore Roosevelt ...
... Racial Recapitulation , and the Neurasthenic Paradox 77 CHAPTER 4 " Not to Sex - But to Race ! " Charlotte Perkins Gilman , Civilized Anglo - Saxon Womanhood , and the Return of the Primitive Rapist 121 CHAPTER 5 Theodore Roosevelt ...
Page xi
... race could per- mit such barbarism . The second is G. Stanley Hall , the scholar , psychologist , and educator . Like many others , Hall worried that the advanced races might prove to be too delicate , that civilization might drain ...
... race could per- mit such barbarism . The second is G. Stanley Hall , the scholar , psychologist , and educator . Like many others , Hall worried that the advanced races might prove to be too delicate , that civilization might drain ...
Page 2
... race had produced the most pow- erful , virile man . Jeffries was known as the “ Hope of the White Race , ” while Johnson was dubbed the " Negroes ' Deliverer . " 8 With few exceptions , predic- tions of the fight's outcome focused on ...
... race had produced the most pow- erful , virile man . Jeffries was known as the “ Hope of the White Race , ” while Johnson was dubbed the " Negroes ' Deliverer . " 8 With few exceptions , predic- tions of the fight's outcome focused on ...
Page 22
A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917 Gail Bederman. the racial supremacy of civilized white men . For example , popular anthro- pology magazines like the National Geographic , first published in 1889 ...
A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917 Gail Bederman. the racial supremacy of civilized white men . For example , popular anthro- pology magazines like the National Geographic , first published in 1889 ...
Page 23
... Race to Middle - Class Manhood through the Discourse of Civilization How could middle - class white men simultaneously construct powerful manhood in terms of both " civilized manliness " and " primitive mascu- linity ? " Although these ...
... Race to Middle - Class Manhood through the Discourse of Civilization How could middle - class white men simultaneously construct powerful manhood in terms of both " civilized manliness " and " primitive mascu- linity ? " Although these ...
Contents
1 | |
Ida B Wells Representations of Lynching and Northern MiddleClass Manhood | 45 |
G Stanley Hall Racial Recapitulation and the Neurasthenic Paradox | 77 |
4 Not to SexBut to Race Charlotte Perkins Gilman Civilized AngloSaxon Womanhood and the Return of the Primitive Rapist | 121 |
Manhood Nation and Civilization | 170 |
Conclusion Tarzan and After | 217 |
Notes | 241 |
Bibliography | 289 |
Index | 297 |
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Common terms and phrases
adolescent African Americans American race Anglo-Saxon antilynching Apes barbarism believed boys Burroughs century Charlotte Perkins Gilman Chicago civi civiliza civilization's civilized manliness civilized races civilized white constructed culinity cultural depicted discourse of civilization Edgar Rice Burroughs evolution evolutionary evolved example Feminism feminist fight force gender Hall's History human Ibid ideologies imperialistic Indians Iron John Jack Johnson Jane lynch law lynch mobs male body male power male sexuality manly self-restraint masculine men's middle-class millennial modern moral nation natural neurasthenic neurasthenic paradox overcivilized passion perfect political powerful manhood primal rapist primitive masculinity race race suicide racial recapitulation rape recapitulation theory remake manhood savage rapist savagery social Southern Stanley Hall superior Tarzan Theodore Roosevelt tion TR's traits uncivilized University Press unmanly Victorian violence virile Wells-Barnett white Americans White City white man's white supremacy white women woman womanhood Women and Economics York