InHope Draped in BlackJoseph R. Winters responds to the enduring belief that America follows a constant trajectory of racial progress. Such notions like those that suggested the passage into a postracial era following Barack Obama's election gloss over the history of racial violence and oppression to create an imaginary and self-congratulatory world where painful memories are conveniently forgotten. In place of these narratives, Winters advocates for an idea of hope that is predicated on a continuous engagement with loss and melancholy. Signaling a heightened sensitivity to the...

InHope Draped in BlackJoseph R. Winters responds to the enduring belief that America follows a constant trajectory of racial progress. Such notions like those that suggested the passage into a postracial era following Barack Obama's election gloss over the history of racial violence and oppression to create an imaginary and self-congratulatory world where painful memories are conveniently forgotten. In place of these narratives, Winters advocates for an idea of hope that is predicated on a continuous engagement with loss and melancholy. Signaling a heightened sensitivity to the...