The Strange History of the American Quadroon

In her lively, comprehensive book, Clark (Masterless Mistresses) broaches society's historical fascination with quadroons%E2%80%94officially, people whose racial make-up is one-quarter African. Setting out to illuminate the amorphous station of quadroons in American society, the author follows the relationship between immigrants from Saint-Domingue (later Haiti) and two maritime cities, Philadelphia and New Orleans. In one of many astute observations, Clark suggests that the country's fixation on quadroons in the early 19th Century constituted a psychological safety net of sorts, staving off contemplation of the assumed-fearsome black males in the wake of the Haitian Revolution. Overviewing Noel Carriere's extensive influence on the partnering practices of free blacks in New Orleans, Clark then outlines the philosophical and psychological underpinnings of a marriage explosion within marginalized communities. In consolidating and quoting from literary stories that popularized the "tragic mulatto", she demonstrates a broad familiarity with the artistic and social responses to the fabled quadroon. The bounty of historical case studies offered is impressive in and of itself. Clark weaves real-life examples with an encyclopedic overview of the widespread effects both the American and Haitian Revolutions had on cultural perceptions of a nebulous social class. (Apr.)