Reading Groups

Crossing the Color Line: Satire and Racecraft in Fiction with Norrell Edwards

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4 Sessions Wednesdays, 6:00 pm EDT - 7:30 pm EDT April 8 to July 1, 2026

Online via Zoom

The ‘With Books’ option includes the titles required for this group at a 10% discount from our Bookstore.

Meeting Dates:
4/8, 5/6, 6/3, 7/1
Online via Zoom

“She just happened to turn Black a few years ago.” Perhaps you remember when former Vice President Kamala Harris’s Black identity became the focus of news reports during the 2024 Presidential election campaign. Was she Black enough or “the right kind” of Black? This discourse on racial ambiguity is not new; there has long been an obsession with Black racial identity, passing, and identity shifting.

The writers featured in this reading group utilize fiction as a means to interrogate race as a social construct. Grounded in the idea of W.E.B. Dubois’s racial color line, we will discuss how these authors represent Blackness, Whiteness, passing, and their complex intersections. Expect an interactive and conversational experience with foundational questions, themes, and historical context presented by the instructor to ground each meeting.

Reading List:

Black No More by George S. Schuyler
Blackass by A. Igoni Barrett
We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell

What to read in advance of the first meeting: Please read Black No More in advance of the first meeting.

Pricing inclusive of sales tax if applicable. Please note: All virtual classes are recorded. Please click here for information about our recording policy.

Led by

Norrell Edwards

Norrell Edwards

Norrell Edwards, Ph.D., is a scholar, educator, and communications consultant for nonprofit organizations. Dr. Edwards is currently 75th Anniversary Endowed Professor of the Humanities, Assistant Professor of English at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, and Project Director of the National Endowment of the Humanities funded Grant “Publishing Today: Uplifting Contemporary Stories and Literature of Marginalized Communities.” Black history and culture and social justice. With extensive scholarship on the Haitian diaspora, Dr. Edwards has published in several academic journals and edited collections as well as essays in LA Review of Books, Electric Literature, the Grio and Yes!. She is currently board chair of the Feminist Press and board member of Lampblack Literary.

About this series

Reading Groups

Whether you’re looking to catch up on great novels or you’re interested in exploring a new writer or literary period, our reading groups offer high-level literary discussion led by experts in the field.

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