Summary

“The Slavebody and the Blackbody” explores the difference between slavery and racism as perceived by Morrison. She writes that the origins of slavery are not necessarily racist, but that the institution of slavery as experienced by Africans brought to America and their descendants was converted into racism, since even when slavery was abolished the colour of a black person’s skin was a physical, visible indicator of a history of “dishonor” (76) and suffering. She writes that the slavebody, even in modern discourse, “is reconstructed and reenters the blackbody as an American form of ethnic cleansing” (77) through which racism targets black people and imprisons them, exploits them, etc.

“Harlem on My Mind” further explores blackness in modern discourse and in particular in relation to museums. Morrison writes of Thomas P.F. Hoving who, when he was director...