Rutgers University Press Chapter Title: The Same Show Boat? Edna Ferber’s Interracial Ideal Book Title: The White Negress Book Subtitle: Literature, Minstrelsy, and the Black-Jewish Imaginary Book Author(s): LORI HARRISON-KAHAN Published by: Rutgers University Press . (2011) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hhz60.6 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Rutgers University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The White Negress. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 138.110.87.58 on Thu, 04 Feb 2016 19:17:51 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 2 / Te Same Show Boat? Edna Ferber’s Interracial Ideal While the heterogeneity of the early-twentieth-century stage opened spaces for the construction of new models of racial and gender identity, popular literature of the time ofers another venue for exploring such shifing ideologies as they relate to the black-Jewish imaginary. Te work of Jewish American writer Edna Ferber bridges the realms of literature and mass entertainment, and it was in minstrelsy that Ferber found one of her earliest sources of creative inspiration.