Not Quite White in Fiction and Film: Laura Z. Hobson's Gentleman's Agreement and Nella Larsen's Passing

The Abram Matlofsky Memorial Program, funded by the Karma Foundation

• Donavan L. Ramon, Allen and Joan Bildner Visiting Scholar, Rutgers University
• Rachel Gordan, Shorstein Professor of American Jewish Culture and Society, University of Florida
• Gene Seymour (moderator), Film and Cultural Critic

Gentleman’s Agreement and Passing are critically-acclaimed novels on racial and ethnic passing that have also been adapted for the screen. The novels investigate how anti-Black racism and antisemitism have shaped the integration of Blacks and Jews into White Christian American society. Penned by women, both novels also explore issues of gender and social class.

Nella Larsen's Passing, published in 1929 during the Harlem Renaissance, was adapted for film in 2021 and stars Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga as Black friends who must confront the limits of their friendship and the color line when one is more successful than the other at “passing” as White.

Laura Z. Hobson's bestselling Gentleman's Agreement was originally published in 1946, shortly after World War II, in serial form in Cosmopolitan. In the 1947 Academy Award-winning film adaptation, Gregory Peck stars as a gentile reporter tasked with uncovering antisemitism. He soon discovers the depth of bigotry and hatred that exists in the United States.

Rachel Gordan and Donavan Ramon will discuss the novels and their adaptations to the screen in a panel moderated by film and cultural critic Gene Seymour. Excerpts from both films will be shown during the program.