| Race and gender have always influenced American ideas of poverty and led to the construction of racist and sexist social welfare policies. In the 1980s, the derogatory term "underclass" gained popularity as a euphemism for poor black Americans, but the label especially targeted and stigmatized black mothers who were welfare recipients. In the years from 1980 to 1996, from Ronald Reagan's "welfare queen" to Bill Clinton's campaign promise to "end welfare," the "underclass" label espoused harmful race and gender stereotypes that were proliferated in the media. This thesis examines how three contemporary black women's novels---Alice Walker's The Color Purple, Toni Morrison's Beloved, and Sapphire's Push---interacted with, complicated, and dismantled underclass discourse. With novels that are political, imaginative, and controversial, each author has contributed immensely to literary and historical scholarship and incited meaningful dialogue, counteracting entrenched American ideologies of race and gender in discussions of the "underclass."... |
