Interrogates and explains 1960s writers and artists popular embrace of blackness as a source of power, as it confronts racism.

Introduction: Black art in transition Shelly Eversley; Part I. Poetry and Music: 1. The society of umbra and the coming of the Black aesthetic Keith D. Leonard; 2. Robert Hayden, the Black arts movement, and the politics of aesthetic distance in the 1960s Derik Smith; 3. Sonia Sanchez through the lens of Afro-Latinidad Patricia Herrera; 4. Reconsidering 'the revolution in music' Eric Porter; Part II. Culture, and Politics: 5. The rights of Black love Dagmawi Woubshet; 6. Albert Murray beyond plight and blight Paul C. Taylor; 7. Espionage and the paths of Black radicalism GerShun Avilez; 8. The necessary violence of Frantz Fanon and Malcolm X in global Black revolution Kelly M. Nims; Part III. Beyond the Canon: 9. Meanwhile, back on the home front Phillip Brian Harper; 10. Between the March and Moynihan: reexamining Black female silence and subjectivity in 'Nothing but a man' Aneeka A. Henderson; 11. Radio Free Dixie, Black arts radio, and African American women's activism Cheryl Higashida.