In the Shadow of the Black Beast: African American Masculinity in the Harlem and Southern Renaissances

Acknowledgments

ix Acknowledgments As I have worked on this project over the last few years, I have heard numerous colleagues talk about the isolation involved with the writing process. While I found this to be the case at times with long hours in the library and in front of the computer as the project developed from dissertation to manuscript, I also found my professional and personal relationships with certain people more sharply defined than ever. As invaluable sources of support, criticism, and inspiration, these friends, family members, and colleagues have my sincerest gratitude. Fred Hobson directed this project from its inception as a dissertation idea and did so with a keen eye for its long-term development and significance. Without his steady advice, indefatigable reading, and exhaustive knowledge of southern letters, this project would not have come to fruition. I would also like to thank the members of my dissertation committee: William Andrews, James Coleman, Trudier Harris , Linda Wagner-Martin, and Joel Williamson. They were most generous with their time, advice, and brilliance. Melissa Bostrom and Tara Powell were involved with this project from the first page. Their careful criticism of every paragraph, sentence, and footnote during the dissertation stage was invaluable, and our Wednesday writing group was the best stress relief one could imagine. Jessica Traurig, with her sharp eyes and attention to detail, provided much appreciated help in preparing the manuscript. I owe a debt of gratitude as well to numerous academic and administrative units of Lycoming College, Wake Forest University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for their support of my research. Lycoming College has generously supported conference travel as I have tested my ideas in various venues , while the staff of Snowden Library has been most helpful in tracking down and retrieving a variety of resources. My colleagues in the Lycoming English Department , and especially G. W. Hawkes and Sascha Feinstein, have my gratitude for their support and advice. The English Department of Wake Forest has my appreciation for its encouragement of my research and for conference funding while I was a visiting professor in 2004–2005. The Department of English at UNC-CH provided a summer fellowship and various travel grants that were instrumental in my research; likewise, the Center for the Study of the American South at UNCCH and the Graduate School provided research stipends and travel grants. x Acknowledgments I would also like to thank my family for its long and unwavering support of my academic endeavors. In particular, my parents, Robert and Susan Leiter, have provided inspiration and encouragement through a lifetime of education. Finally, I would like to thank Maria Hebert-Leiter who, more than anyone else, knows what the last few years have been like. Her patience and encouragement on a personal level, together with her untiring aid on a professional level, have helped bring this project to a close and made the whole process worthwhile. In the Shadow of the Black Beast This page intentionally left blank ...