Synopses & Reviews
"An important book on the New Negro. . . . Stands tall beside works that have shaped Great Migration historiography. . . . For the pleasure it provides as well as for the intellectual challenges it presents, it should be required reading. I borrow from a cultural icon from another era to sum it up: r-e-s-p-e-c-t."
Journal of American History "Richly researched and a welcomed democratization of intellectual history. Baldwin's vibrant prose accentuates the excitement of the city and the stimulating interplay between cultural innovators and their active patrons."
-- Journal of Illinois History Baldwin skillfully combines original sources such as newspapers and magazines of the period with secondary material to create a work that examines issues of class, economics, socialization, politics, and gender. . . . [Chicago's New Negroes] is a fine addition to not only urban history, but also racial and economic historiography. Highly recommended.
--Choice "This monograph is much more than an intellectual history . . . . [It] is a fine addition to not only urban history, but also racial and economic historiography."
-- CHOICE "A theoretically informed and thought-provoking monograph. . . . A risk-taking, important, and creative work that deserves to find a wide readership among students of popular and consumer culture, and U.S., working-class, and African American history."
The Journal of African American History "[A] bold and innovative book [which] seeks to challenge commonly held assumptions about the lack of a thriving black intelligentsia in early twentieth-century Chicago. . . . A pioneering work."
Journal of American Ethnic History "Makes a significant contribution in shifting the focus of intellectual history from the erudite to cultural producers. . . . Centralizes mass consumers' ideas of modernity alongside key producers and entrepreneurs. . . . A must-read in African American and cultural studies."
The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society With this publication Baldwin emerges as one of the dynamic and innovative voices in contemporary African American studies.
--Mark Anthony Neal, author of New Black Man Baldwin breaks new ground in his critique . . .
--A'Lelia Bundles, author of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker
Review
With this publication Baldwin emerges as one of the dynamic and innovative voices in contemporary African American studies.
--Mark Anthony Neal, author of New Black Man
Review
"This monograph is much more than an intellectual history . . . . [It] is a fine addition to not only urban history, but also racial and economic historiography."
-- CHOICE
Review
Baldwin breaks new ground in his critique . . .
--A'Lelia Bundles, author of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker
Review
Baldwin breaks new ground in his critique . . .
'"A"Lelia Bundles, author of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker
Review
"[A] bold and innovative book [which] seeks to challenge commonly held assumptions about the lack of a thriving black intelligentsia in early twentieth-century Chicago. . . . A pioneering work."
Journal of American Ethnic History
Synopsis
As early-twentieth-century Chicago swelled with an influx of at least 250,000 new black urban migrants, the city became a center of consumer capitalism, flourishing with professional sports, beauty shops, film production companies, recording studios, and other black cultural and communal institutions. Davarian Baldwin argues that this mass consumer marketplace generated a vibrant intellectual life and planted seeds of political dissent against the dehumanizing effects of white capitalism. Pushing the traditional boundaries of the Harlem Renaissance to new frontiers, Baldwin identifies a fresh model of urban culture rich with politics, ingenuity, and entrepreneurship.
Synopsis
Pushing the traditional boundaries of the Harlem Renaissance to new frontiers, Baldwin identifies a fresh model of urban culture rich with politics, ingenuity, and entrepreneurship.
About the Author
Davarian L. Baldwin is associate professor of history and African and African Diaspora studies at Boston College.
Table of Contents
Contents Acknowledgments
Introduction. <"chicago has="" no="" intelligentsia"?:="" consumer="" culture="" and="" intellectual="" life="" reconsidered="">
1 Mapping the Black Metropolis: A Cultural Geography of the Stroll
2 Making Do: Beauty, Enterprise, and the <"makeover" of="" race="">
3 Theaters of War: Spectacles, Amusements, and the Emergence of Urban Film Culture
4 The Birth of Two Nations: White Fears, Black Jeers, and the Rise of a <"race film"="">
5 Sacred Tastes: The Migrant Aesthetics and Authority of Gospel Music
6 The Sporting Life: Recreation, Self-Reliance, and Competing Visions of Race Manhood
Epilogue. The Crisis of the Black Bourgeoisie, Or, What If Harold Cruse Had Lived in Chicago?
Notes
Bibliography
Index