Contending Forces: A Romance Illustrative of Negro Life North and South is Pauline Hopkins' first major work and debut novel, published in 1900. Contending Forces focuses on African American families in post-Civil War American society. Hopkins, a child of free parents of color, imprinted her "own evasive and unsettling maternal family history, which linked her to the Atlantic slave trade, the West Indies, and the American South", providing a vivid portrayal of the shared struggles endured by both enslaved and free individuals during that time period.
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