Author Talk: We Wear the Mask: African Americans Write American Literature, 1760-1870
The Field House Museum welcomes Dr. Rafia Zafar of Washington University for a virtual Speaker Series program on March 18, 2021 at 7:00 pm. Dr. Zafar will be joining us to discuss her book, “We Wear the Mask: African Americans Write American Literature, 1760-1870.” This program is in conjunction with the Museum’s current exhibit, “The Power of Words,” and explores how African American writers used a variety of literary strategies to relate their stories to the American reader.
About the Author: Rafia Zafar received her degrees from the City College of New York (BA, English), Columbia University (MA, English & Comparative Literature), and Harvard University (Ph.D., History of American Civilization). Before joining the English and African & African American Studies departments, along with the American Cultural Studies program at Washington University-St. Louis in 1998 she was a professor at the University of Michigan. Currently, she is Faculty Director of Washington University’s Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program.
Dr. Zafar’s other publications include “God Made Man, Man Made the Slave” (co-editor; Mercer 1990); “Harriet Jacobs and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” (co-editor; Cambridge UP, 1996);” and “Harlem Renaissance Novels: The Library of America Collection” (two volumes; Library of America, 2011). “Recipes for Respect: African American Meals and Meaning” appeared in March 2019 (Southern Foodways Alliance Series/University of Georgia Press).