Nella Larsen 
Quicksand 

Will hypocrisy and prejudice compel a principled mulatto teacher to desert a steady job and a socially prominent fiance?

Brave, bold, and brilliant, Larsen's 1928 autobiographical portrait of a bi-racial woman's quest for self-identity and acceptance offers a cautionary tale of an individual lost between two cultures in this shattering novel of racial and cultural identity crisis by the first black author to explore the tragic dilemma of the upper-class black woman.