More Evidence that Acclaimed Black Novelist Was Actually White
Remember the discussion of Emma Dunham Kelley-Hawkins six months ago? She'd been acclaimed as an African American novelist by no less an eminence than "Skip" Gates, when a Brandeis student turned up substantial evidence that Kelley-Hawkins was white. Among others, Henry Farrell, Caleb McDaniel, and Scott McLemee discussed the issue. Still, there were difficult holes in the research trail. Now, a researcher known only as Neil seems to have filled some major ones by locating Kelley-Hawkins in the 1870 and 1880 census records. coffee grounds has the report of further evidence that Kelley-Hawkins was white.
Read entire article at Ralph Luker at Cliopatria