This article analyzes the “self-portrait” rendered through interviews with blacks in John Langston Gwaltney's Drylongso to highlight a theory of whiteness and race from the standpoint of “drylongso”—meaning ordinary—blacks. The game metaphor that emerges in Gwaltney's ethnography is extended in this analysis to further our understanding of the privileged position of whites and the strategies undertaken by diverse “players” to defend it. The “game” begins with the assignment of a rAce card to whites, one that grants them access to a life that is different from that of blacks, who are dealt a low card that consigns them to the role of a “losing player.” Gwaltney's ethnography and this game metaphor provide a means for ongoing analyses of continuity and change among blacks, of “whiteness,” of white privilege, and of white racism.
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