Why did African-American novelists use stories of bourgeois marriage to mount arguments on social reform during the 1890s, when racism conditioned the lives of black Americans? This study examines the novels of Pauline Hopkins, Emma Kelley, Amelia Johnson, Katherine Tillman and Frances Harper.

Why did late nineteenth-century African-American women novelist use idealized stories of bourgeois courtship and marriage to mount arguments of social reform during a time when resurgent racism conditioned the lives of all black Americans? This is the question at the center of Tate's examination of the novels of Pauline Hopkins, Emma Kelley, Amelia Johnson, Katherine Tillman, and Frances Harper.

"This new book should find [a] secure place among all serious students of the formation of traditions of modern black women's fiction....This fine study...is certain to remain the key work on its subject for the forseeable future."--American Studies