Beyond the Pale White Women, Racism, and History

In this pioneering study, Vron Ware looks at the role of ideas about white women in the history of racism. Her two principal themes are the need to perceive white femininity as a historically constructed category, and the importance of understanding how feminism has developed as a political movement within racist societies. Her goal is to explore political connections between black and white women by dissecting the different meanings of femininity and womanhood. Written in a variety of voices and styles, Beyond the Pale discusses contemporary racism and feminism, developments through the nineteenth century such as the anti-slavery movement, and the British campaign against lynching in the United States. The result is a major contribution to a growing body of anti-racist work which confronts the historical meanings of whiteness and tries to overcome the moralism that so often infuses anti-racism.