White Freedom

October 15, 2020
Historical examination of how, since the Enlightenment, ideas of freedom in the U.S. and France have been intertwined with race. "White freedom," writes Stovall, a professor of history at Fordham, is "the belief (and practice) that freedom is central to white racial identity, and that only white people can or should be free." The author tracks this concept in France and the U.S. from the French Revolution and the creation of the U.S. Constitution to the official end of the Cold War, supplementing the historical and political account with relevant material in the areas of art, music, and literature. After opening chapters on pirates and children as examples of "savage freedom" in literature and law--as well as the changing interpretations of the meaning of the Statue of Liberty, from anti-slavery to pro-immigration--Stovall moves chronologically, covering ideas of White freedom implicit in the American, French, and Haitian revolutions; industrialization, imperialism, and modernity; and the world wars. In his intellectual archaeology, the author neither excuses nor cancels historical racism. The author concludes with challenges to White freedom in the name of "universal freedom," including anti-colonial struggles, feminism, and the civil rights movement. While noting that these movements have not completely triumphed, they have successfully reoriented the debate from challenging White freedom to fulfilling the promise of universal freedom. The international and Francophone orientation is distinctive among progressive histories and Whiteness studies. Although academically grounded, the author avoids extended disputes with other scholars. Each chapter has a preface and conclusion, as does the book itself, so Stovall often announces his intentions and the completion of each intention. This structure may put off some nonscholarly readers, but the frame successfully holds together a complex argument and a wide range of sources and examples, from Rousseau and The Magic Flute to Trump and Brexit. This cogent study of ideas of race and freedom has added relevance and crossover potential in today's political landscape.

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