Explores the relationship between race, knowledge, and violence that underpins U.S. modernity.

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction. Freedom's Amendments: Race, Sexuality, and Disposability under the State Form 1
Part I
1. Freedom and Violence in W. E. B. Du Bois's Souls of Black Folk: The Land of Racial Equality 55
2. Legal Freedom as Violence in Nella Larsen's Quicksand: Black Literary Publics during the Interwar Years 90
Interlude 134
Part II
3. Rights-Based Freedom with Violence: Immigration, Sexuality, and the Subject of Human Rights 143
4. Moving beyond a Freedom with Violence: The Politics of Gay Marriage in the Era of Racial Transformation 182
Conclusion. Don't Ask, Don't Tell 219
Notes 247
Bibliography 283
Index 297