Expores the writings of Marcus Garvey, Claude McKay and C.L.R. James and argues that these black transnationals articulated a novel conception of black identity that reconfigures the meaning of American nationality.

Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: The Isles and Empire 1
Part I: Blackness and Empire: The World War I Moment 33
1. The New Worldly Negro: Sovereignty, Revolutionary Masculinity, and American Internationalism 35
2. The Women of Color and the Literature of a New Black World 56
3. Marcus Garvey, Black Emperor 74
4. The Black Star Line and the Negro Ship of State 102
Part II: Mapping New Geographies of History 127
5. Claude McKay and Harlem, Black Belt of the Metropolis 129
6. "Nationality Doubtful" and Banjo's Crew in Marseilles 167
7. C. L. R. James and the Fugitive Slave in American Civilization 204
8. America is One Island Only: The Caribbean and American Studies 241
Conclusion: Dark Waters: Shadow Narratives of U. S. Imperialism 269
Notes 283
Bibliography 337
Index 353