Date
5-20-2026
Degree
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA)
Chair
Justin Morgan
Keywords
Civil Writes, Church history, Church history durning the civil rights, Type 1 diabetes history, Insulin history, Historical fiction, White savior complex.
Disciplines
Creative Writing
Recommended Citation
Robbins, Josephine, "Societal Sickness: An Exploration of the Racially Biased Stereotypes Found within American Historical Fiction Novels" (2026). Masters Theses. 1464.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/1464
Abstract
This thesis explores the complicated nature of stereotypes in American historical fiction, particularly around black oppression and the Civil Rights Movement. The artist statement explores the personal and literary influences that led me to explore and further research this topic. The critical paper explores how historical fiction novels over the last few centuries have used black suffering as a vehicle to promote white moral development, causing a rise in the white savior character archetype. Finally, the creative manuscript, The White Washing, is a novel that develops African American characters morally and gives them a central role in their own story, unlike many historical fiction novels, which cast African Americans as side characters.
