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What forms of racism does Ralph Ellison address or identify in Shadow and Act? How does he respond to prejudice?

There are many racist practices addressed by Ellison in the book. He set out to write a book that was a comprehensive rebuttal of racism towards African-Americans, and most scholars agree that he succeeded. However, there are only two forms of racism that Ellison identifies in the book. These two types of racism encompass all of the discriminatory actions mentioned in the work.


The two forms of racism are overt racism, where the discrimination is blatant, and hidden racism, where the discrimination is only visible to those who know what to look for. In fact, those guilty of hidden racism in the book often don't know they're being racist, and aren't setting out to treat people of color differently.


Ellison responds to prejudice not with prejudice of his own, but with empathy. He highlights the similarities between human beings of all races. These similarities, he argues, show that one race is not better than the other.

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