
+ "The Only Man on Liberty Street", african american literature, american literature, cult of domesticity, dancers on the shore, domestic sphere, Literature, the servant problem, william melvin kelley
William Melvin Kelley’s “The Servant Problem” and the Domestic Sphere
Last Thursday, I wrote about William Melvin Kelley’s “The Only Man on Liberty Street” from his 1964 short story collection Dancers on the Shore. Today, I want to take a moment to look at another story in that collection, “The Servant Problem,” exploring the ways that Kelley addresses the domestic space and sexual policing of black bodies, topics that occur in “The Only Man … Read More William Melvin Kelley’s “The Servant Problem” and the Domestic Sphere