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A review by introvertinterrupted
A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in America by Allyson Hobbs
4.0
I gave this book 3.5 stars.
Update: I talked about this book in a video for the Beyoncé Book Tag I filmed on my BookTube channel.
I randomly found this book through an Amazon book search and knew I had to have it immediately. Allyson Hobbs' book looks at the history of racial "passing," which is the shedding of the one's black identity by a racially ambiguous (i.e., light-skin African-American) person lieu of being "white" so that you can better navigate through life during historical times of high racial conflict (i.e., Jim Crow, Restoration, etc.). This book covered the history of passing from American Slavery all the way until the present day.
While it was obvious that Allyson Hobbs did her research to the best of her ability, I did feel that the narrative and points of her thesis were somewhat repetitive in places. Yet, I did give her leeway on some accounts since it is natural that if a black person was constantly in danger of being discovered to be lying about their race in previous times, there is no way to accurately track how many people passed or what their true experiences were so the book itself is built on a uneven cornerstone, but Hobbs makes it work by using well-known political and historical African-American figures and drawing on the works of other sociologist and anthropologist who have studied this same topic. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book in terms of learning about black historical figures I didn't know of before, finding books to read from the ones Hobbs quoted in her research, and just learning about how the psyche of those who passed worked. Yet, I must point out that my mediocre rating of this book is spurred on by the fact that I do think that Hobbs reiterated her points too often and seemed to go in a circular tangent to present the books ideas to readers.
If you enjoyed Isabel Wilkerson's book, [b: The Warmth of Other Suns|8171378|The Warmth of Other Suns The Epic Story of America's Great Migration|Isabel Wilkerson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1433354252s/8171378.jpg|13341052], you'll more than likely love this book as well since Hobbs' book focuses on the scant few who chose to seek their freedom by going one step further than their brethren who migrated North during the Great Migration.
Update: I talked about this book in a video for the Beyoncé Book Tag I filmed on my BookTube channel.
I randomly found this book through an Amazon book search and knew I had to have it immediately. Allyson Hobbs' book looks at the history of racial "passing," which is the shedding of the one's black identity by a racially ambiguous (i.e., light-skin African-American) person lieu of being "white" so that you can better navigate through life during historical times of high racial conflict (i.e., Jim Crow, Restoration, etc.). This book covered the history of passing from American Slavery all the way until the present day.
While it was obvious that Allyson Hobbs did her research to the best of her ability, I did feel that the narrative and points of her thesis were somewhat repetitive in places. Yet, I did give her leeway on some accounts since it is natural that if a black person was constantly in danger of being discovered to be lying about their race in previous times, there is no way to accurately track how many people passed or what their true experiences were so the book itself is built on a uneven cornerstone, but Hobbs makes it work by using well-known political and historical African-American figures and drawing on the works of other sociologist and anthropologist who have studied this same topic. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book in terms of learning about black historical figures I didn't know of before, finding books to read from the ones Hobbs quoted in her research, and just learning about how the psyche of those who passed worked. Yet, I must point out that my mediocre rating of this book is spurred on by the fact that I do think that Hobbs reiterated her points too often and seemed to go in a circular tangent to present the books ideas to readers.
If you enjoyed Isabel Wilkerson's book, [b: The Warmth of Other Suns|8171378|The Warmth of Other Suns The Epic Story of America's Great Migration|Isabel Wilkerson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1433354252s/8171378.jpg|13341052], you'll more than likely love this book as well since Hobbs' book focuses on the scant few who chose to seek their freedom by going one step further than their brethren who migrated North during the Great Migration.