In the black-and-white photograph that serves as frontispiece to Twice Sold, Twice Ransomed: Autobiography of Mr. and Mrs. Ray (1926), wife and husband Emma and L.P. Ray pose together, softly gazing and smiling at something to... [ view full abstract ]
In the black-and-white photograph that serves as frontispiece to Twice Sold, Twice Ransomed: Autobiography of Mr. and Mrs. Ray (1926), wife and husband Emma and L.P. Ray pose together, softly gazing and smiling at something to the right of the camera. We do not know what input the Rays, both born enslaved, had into their portrait, but the level of intimacy and familial warmth the photo conveys is not ambiguous: their shoulders touch, wife leaning into husband. The frontispiece is emblematic of the Rays’ partnership both in marriage and enabled them to envision the spiritual and moral objectives of their urban mission work throughout the Pacific Northwest. Focusing on temperance work in Progressive-Era Seattle, WA, a region shaped by the culture of alcohol, the Rays travelled together, preaching, praying and inviting to their home “dope fiends,” runaways, prisoners, prostitutes and other lost souls they thought needed saving.
This essay examines the interconnections between marriage, spirituality, and mobility in Twice Sold, Twice Ransomed. Through a concept I call “mobile couplehood,” I examine how Emma Ray reinforces and reimagines the domestic ideals of marital love and duty while also making visible her own individuality outside the couple. I argue that mobile couplehood both reimagines and reinforces traditional gender roles and hierarchical power relations against a Western landscape that has been a symbol of white hegemonic masculinity. Thus, examining Twice Sold, Twice Ransomed and understanding the Rays’ shared vision and mobility furthers our understanding of the emancipatory potential of black marriage and its authorization of an emergent black feminine subject.
Feminist Critical Regionalism and the Climate of Western Literary Studies
