Throughout US history, black people have been configured as sociolegal nonpersons. Joshua Bennett explores the place of animality in works by Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, Jesmyn Ward, and other black writers, delving into the literary imagination and ethical concerns that emerge from being viewed as a subgenre of the human.

Joshua Bennett is Professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College. He is the author of Owed and The Sobbing School, winner of the National Poetry Series and a finalist for the NAACP Image Award. His writing has been published in The Best American Poetry, the New York Times, and the Paris Review.