Cultivating a Black Public Voice: W.E.B. Du Bois and the "Criteria of Negro Art"

This essay explores the rhetorical performance of W. E. B. Du Bois during the Harlem Renaissance as he cultivates the conditions favorable to an "authentic" African American public voice. I argue that Du Bois's rhetoric accomplishes three tasks: First, it calls into being the features of "Negro Art." Second, it associates black art with a public voice and posits the black public voice as a mode of mediation between the opposing constraints of "pure art" and "propaganda." This mediation creates a space for public dialogue about race, culture, and society. Lastly, it proposes a rational role for the norms and values of black culture in the public deliberation of American civic life.