Book Review: The Invisible Line

Review by Billy Heller
New York Post
February 21, 2011

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/books/required_reading_JIyE9OyxIka3gT07c8umAM

The Invisible Line
by Daniel J. Sharfstein (The Penguin Press)

Vanderbilt University law professor Sharfstein says when it comes to race in America, things are not as simple as black and white, and never have been. He traces the stories of three African-American families over two centuries, who “crossed” from black to white — some even winding up as slave owners. He shows how local laws differed and changed, affecting racial identification. Sometimes a dark-skinned person would be considered white, depending on their town, while a lighter-skinned relative would be looked on as black.