James Weldon Johnson's Modern Soundscapes

In this groundbreaking work, literary critic Noelle Morrissette provides an evocative and meticulously researched study of one of the best known and yet least understood authors of the New Negro Renaissance era. Drawing on archival materials such as early manuscript notes and drafts of Johnson's unpublished and published work, Morrissette explores the author's complex aesthetic of sound, based on black expressive culture and cosmopolitan interracial experiences. The result is an innovative new interpretation of the works of one of the early twentieth century's most important and controversial writers and civil rights leaders.