Anti-black Spaces in The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

This thesis focuses on anti-black spaces, both physical and psychological, in the United States of the 19th and 20th centuries, through the analysis of the novel The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. The narrative source based on a phenomenon really existed, the so-called Underground Railroad, provides the pretext for an historical reconstruction of three main attempts to sideline black community, by comparing fiction and actual record, alongside different academic articles, reviews, essays on the subject. In the first part, I dwell on the plantation system and how black slaves were socially perceived. The second chapter addresses the medical spaces and, particularly, the eugenic experiments on black bodies. The last part deals with the open space in the Deep South and how black lynchings came to be such a widespread problem. In conclusion, through the experience of Whitehead's characters and in particular Cora, the protagonist of the novel, we are able to witness the atrocities made in the name of white supremacy. This study shows some important reasons behind the racial issue in America and emphasizes the need to know the past and to develop a more conscious debate around it, in order to finally define a black space and a new direction for racial rhetoric.