Building the Black Arts Movement: Hoyt Fuller and the Cultural Politics of the 1960s by Jonathan Fenderson (review)

At first glance, the caption to a photograph reproduced on page 89 of Building the Black Arts Movement seems unusual: "Hoyt Fuller caught in the spotlight at an OBAC event." The black-and-white picture shows Fuller, cofounder of the Chicago arts collective known as the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC), standing at a podium and staring out into the audience. The spotlight does indeed shine on him, but there's nothing in his visage to betray shock or surprise. Indeed, the rounded glow of the light lends a visual complement to the circular OBAC logo that appears behind the podium, just over his right shoulder. Fuller looks like he's meant to be there, so the question is: Why "caught"?

Upon a moment's reflection, the reader discovers an answer in the resonant language Jonathan Fenderson uses to describe a man who quite deliberately "occupied the background" during a momentous period in African American political and cultural expression (2). As a magazine editor, writing mentor, workshop facilitator, and unofficial advisor, Fuller advanced the Black Arts movement from positions that were quiet rather than outspoken, out of sight rather than visible. In this sense, Fuller would appear "caught" in the spotlight in the sense that it's a rare moment where he is the focus of attention. Fenderson deftly negotiates what it means to bring such a man to light.

To be sure, Fuller is deserving of the attention, and Building the Black Arts Movement more than gives him his due. In five chapters and a coda, Fenderson traces the many ways Fuller shaped the Black Arts movement at the local, national, and even international levels. The picture that emerges is of a man who seemed to be everywhere during the late 1960s and early 1970s, and yet nowhere at the same time. Until Fenderson followed the archival paper trail of Fuller's activities, no one had quite put the full arc, or reach, of his career into bold relief.

Chapter one considers the publication for which Fuller is best known: the monthly magazine Negro Digest, later renamed Black World. Fenderson reveals how Fuller navigated the bottom line of publisher John H. Johnson to turn the magazine into a mouthpiece not just for Black Arts but for arts across the African diaspora. With Johnson's attention focused on his lucrative lifestyle publications, Ebony and Jet, Fuller exercised his editorial prerogative to make Negro Digest more radical, not less, as the 1960s wore on. He also proved that serious arts coverage could attract a wide readership, as the magazine averaged over 80,000 issues in print through 1971 (44). However, since Fuller never could rely on Johnson for practical support, he resorted to further behind-the-scenes work to keep the magazine true to its commitments. For example, he "recruited established writers to underwrite" awards that would recognize new and upcoming voices in Black literature (43). More subversively, Fuller coordinated a staged protest in front of Johnson's headquarters in December 1969—the fallout from which led to the magazine's renaming as Black World, beginning with the May 1970 issue (1–2). These and other examples from his time at the Johnson Publishing Company ground the metaphor Fenderson applies to Fuller throughout the book: that of a "movement architect."

Chapters two through four follow the architect at work, executing blueprints at varying scales. The second chapter highlights Fuller's running arts initiatives through OBAC, most notably its writers' workshop through which many of the era's major poets, such as Don L. Lee (later Haki R. Madhubuti) and Gwendolyn Brooks, passed. While most of Fenderson's findings are of a piece with recent scholarship on Chicago's vibrant Black Arts scene, his research into the records of the Chicago Police Department discloses how its Red Squad—its infiltration and countermeasure division—"frequented OBAC events, opening files on members, guests...