AFRICAN-AMERICAN IDENTITY AGAINST THE SURGE OF NEO-RACISM`s HIDDEN THREAT IN TWO SELECTED NOVELS

Abstract

This study attempts to explore an issue that has become the source of embarrassment for one of the greatest empires in history, an empire that prides itself on the one hand for being the leading democracy of the world while at the same time harboring glaring social injustice and racial discrimination. The problem of discrimination or racism will be traced in two novels that follow a certain fictional and historical timeline: CaptainBlackman by John A. Williams (1972), and A Death in Texas: a Story of Race, Murder, and Struggle of a Small Town’s Redemption by Dina Temple-Raston (2002). In these novels, the African-American characters explore the world of racism, judge their experiences, and make a choice to stand out in a world dominated by a white population.