Roots of the Black Chicago Renaissance

Certificate of Excellence, Illinois State Historical Society, 2021

"Roots of the Black Chicago Renaissance invites a new generation of scholars to keep digging into the scarcely tapped and rich history of Black Chicago and its influence on US history." --Society for US Intellectual History

"Roots of the Black Chicago Renaissance makes a compelling case for starting any history of Black culture and arts in Chicago well before the traditional start date of the Chicago Renaissance in the 1930s." --Society for US Intellectual History

”An important work of intellectual and cultural recovery. It brings to the surface corners of Chicago's vibrant intellectual and cultural life that we have never considered or simply heard about in passing. The archival depth and artistic breadth will powerfully add to a much broader understanding of black cultural renaissance both geographically and conceptually.”—Davarian L. Baldwin, author of Chicago’s New Negroes: Modernity, the Great Migration, and Black Urban Life

"Roots of the Black Chicago Renaissance has many pleasures for readers interested in African-American history, art history, Chicago history and, indeed, US history, and one is the opportunity to learn about important but little-known figures from a century and more ago." --Third Coast Review

"Roots of the Black Chicago Renaissance ultimately presents a rich, varied tapestry for understanding some of the foundational moments of Black Chicago's cultural and literary history. No doubt future studies will continue to build on some of the insights presented by this volume." --Journal of American Ethnic History

"Highly recommended." --Choice

"The Black Chicago Renaissance (BCR) remains a relatively understudies moment in 20th-century African American cultural history. . . . An engrossing account of the formative period that led to the BCR of the 1930s and 1940s. . . . A highly informative, albeit imperfect, step toward a fuller reconstruction of the pre-BCR years." --Science and Society

"This is the book we’ve been waiting for--revelatory at every turn--attesting to the creative ferment of black Chicago in the early years of the twentieth century. Courage, Reed, and an impressive range of contributors give us the vital 'prequel' to the Black Chicago Renaissance, through new stories of writers, artists, dancers, tastemakers, and cultural entrepreneurs who made Chicago a center of the New Negro movement."--Liesl Olson, author of Chicago Renaissance: Literature and Art in the Midwest Metropolis