I am an African American woman who teaches Huckleberry Finn in several of my classes, including American Realism and Literary Allusion in Ralph Ellison. I find the question whether or not Twain's novel is "racist" not very illuminating (sorry for the syntax, I can't backspace on this)--discussions on this question don't get us very far. However, talking about the text as it reveals not only Twain's but American society's ambivalence about African Americans, race, humanity, etc. is a more interesting way for me to get at the issues surrounding the charges of "racism" in the text. I'd be happy to talk to you about the question privately if you want a little more discussion from me-- Claire Garcia at Colorado College.