The Myth of Ham in Nineteenth-Century American Christianity: Race, Heathens, and the People of God

This monograph is an original study of what is commonly termed the American "myth of Ham". It examines black and white Americans' recourse to the biblical character of Ham as a cultural strategy for explaining racial origins. Previous studies in the area have been restricted to associating the Hamitic idea with pro-slavery arguments, whereas the thesis of this project reveals a fundamental irony: black American Christians who reinforced the meanings of illegitimacy by appealing to Ham as the ancestor of the race.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Author: Johnson, S.
Published: 12/03/2004
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
ISBN: 9781403965622
Pages: 187
Weight: 0.77lbs
Size: 8.50h x 6.06w x 0.65d