Writing About Racism in 1930s
by Karma Kitaj | Blogging | Jul 15, 2020
I'm writing the sequel to the first novel that was published in 2018. It covers the period between 1938 - about 1950. The protagonist Miriam meets a man 10 years her junior on assignment from the Federal Theater Project, funded by the WPA during the New Deal to keep artists employed.
Writing about racism in the 1930s requires honesty and care. The racism of that era was pervasive and institutional — it shaped every aspect of American life. To write around it would be to falsify history.
At the same time, I want to write about racism in a way that illuminates rather than exploits. My goal is to show how racism affected real people's lives — how it limited opportunities, caused suffering, and yet also inspired resistance and solidarity.
Miriam, as a Jewish woman, has her own experience of discrimination and prejudice. Her encounters with the racism directed at Black Americans in the 1930s and 40s force her to examine her own position and privileges.