"Hagar, the Old Testament Egyptian heroine who bore Abraham's son at the behest of Sarah, was traditionally regarded as an African. Yet the literature and paintings of the nineteenth century depicted Hagar as white. " "Dreaming Black/Writing White examines how the Hagar story was representative of the ways in which African Americans shaped the cultural identity of nineteenth-century America even as whites continued to disavow their contributions. The perception of Hagar as black meant that she could represent a combination of sexual passion and artistic creativity that empowered women in the process of taking on male roles of economic authority in American society. "--BOOK JACKET.