Miscegenation and Progression: The First Americans of Jean Toomer and William Faulkner

This chapter analyzes aspects of miscegenation in William Faulkner’s work relative to several African American antecedents, contends that Jean Toomer’s work contributed to Faulkner’s treatment of the subject, and argues for a partial realignment of the traditional critical paradigm in Faulkner studies that approaches miscegenation through the segregation-era lens of threatened “whiteness.” Relying on an intertextual reading of Go Down, Moses with Toomer’s Cane and “Blue Meridian,” the chapter contends that we can discern Toomer’s influence on Faulkner’s portrayal of miscegenation. Most significantly, Toomer’s vision of progressive racial evolution culminating in a multi-racial, original American helps us frame Sam Fathers as Faulkner’s first American. As such, Fathers represents not only the end of both the Native American presence and the wilderness era in America, but he also serves as an originary model for an evolving mixed-race nation.