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Primary Source Sets
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
A typed quotation from Invisible Man.

A typed quotation from Invisible Man.

A typed quotation from Invisible Man, signed by Ralph Ellison. This quotation, from the novel’s epilogue, asks what is lost when African Americans are expected to assimilate into the white mainstream. It takes on added resonance in the current era of “colorblind” rhetoric.

Citation Information
Ellison, Ralph, “TQS from Invisible Man,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/b2b977a092cc837e84278c216a769bbc.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of University of South Carolina, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections via South Carolina Digital Library.

Tips for Students

For this source, consider:

  • the author's point of view
  • the author's purpose
  • historical context
  • audience

Item 11 of 13 in the Primary Source Set Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Previous ItemNext Item
A poster of the boxer Jack Johnson, circa 1910.
A photograph of Jack Johnson and wife, circa 1905-1915.
A 1904 photograph of Booker T. Washington.
An excerpt from The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois about double consciousness, 1903.
The Negro Motorist Green Book, 1950.
A theatrical poster for Neil O'Brien as a blackface minstrel performer, 1915.
A 1921 collage of newspaper clippings about Marcus Garvey and African American activism.
A 1939 memo about “The Negro Population of Philadelphia and Sub-Standard Housing Conditions.”
The painting Moon over Harlem by William H. Johnson, circa 1943-1944.
An excerpt from FBI files on Ralph Ellison’s communist activities, 1950-1964.
A typed quotation from Invisible Man.
An audio recording of Ralph Ellison testifying before the US Senate about Harlem, 1966.
An excerpt from a 1992 episode of the PBS television program “Main Street, Wyoming” that discusses Invisible Man.

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