Spectacular Blackness: The Cultural Politics of the Black Power Movement and the Search for a Black Aesthetic

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments Like the Notorious B.I.G. said in “Juicy,” the last really great hip-hop song: “It was all a dream.” In that song, Biggie Smalls told the story of the impossibility of all he had achieved given the conditions he had had to overcome. I haven’t had quite the experiences or the achievements of Biggie Smalls, but I am the first to acknowledge that I would never have achieved anything at all without the support of the many people along the way. My committee greatly assisted in the early development and completion of this project in its incarnation as a dissertation. Sunn Shelley Wong provided a model for scholarly and pedagogical integrity. The project could not have been completed without her tireless support and understanding at every stage. Hortense Spillers repeatedly provided critical challenges to my ideas that forced me to reconceptualize, refine, and hone my arguments. Timothy Murray offered an invaluable critical perspective on race and visual culture. Karlton Hester not only helped me to have a fuller understanding of the cultural and aesthetic production of music but he also introduced me to jazz, which became a lifelong love and probably the single most important thing that I have gained from my education. I have had the benefit of great teachers and mentors throughout my education. Salah Hassan, Ann Cvetkovich, Rajeswari Mohan, Joyce Miller, Dawit Woldu, and Helena Woodard have been models of excellence in teaching and mentoring. This project also benefited enormously from the support of my colleagues in the “Historicizing Identities” seminar at Duke University’s John Hope Franklin Center of International and Interdisciplinary Studies. Priscilla Wald, Trina Jones, and Lee D. Baker were particularly generous and giving of their time. Several people read drafts of this project while it was in progress, and my colleagues at the University of Florida have been exceptionally helpful throughout its final stages. Marsha Bryant, Kim Emery , Pamela Gilbert, Mark Reid, Lamonda Hortons Stallings, Debra Walker x Acknowledgments King, Wayne Losano, Jodi Schorb, Stephanie Evans, and Andrew Gordon all offered advice, support, and valuable input. Carol Anne Tyler, Michelle Raheja, Charles Nero, Jurgen Donnerstag, Tiffany Ana Lopez, Diedrich Diedrichson, Nancy Kok, Ingeborg Majer O’Sickey, Hank Okazaki, David Hilliard, and Rickey Vincent offered invaluable insights and encouragement . A. B. Spellman and Evelyn Neal generously allowed me permission to reprint material. The support and encouragement of my University of Virginia Press editor, Cathie Brettschneider, was invaluable, as was the input of the two anonymous readers. Their concern and attention was matched by the efficient help and consideration of my copy editor, Beth Ina. Claude Marks at the Freedom Archives continues to offer insight and inspiration. Mary Fahnestock-Thomas helped not only with editing the manuscript but also with really great advice and support. Bessie Ongiri read and edited a late version of the manuscript in a pinch and saved the day as usual. It is always my hope that any work that I do honors my ancestors and my biological and chosen family here and abroad. This project would not have been completed without the love, care, and commitment of Barbara Mennel , who not only read multiple drafts but also introduced me to the work of Chester Himes. Without her, this project would not have been possible. I will always be forever grateful to my parents for instilling in me a love of family and a commitment to education. Their openness to the world taught me new ways of seeing. My brothers and sisters John, Elizabeth, Mary, Allen, Laura, Jennifer, Catherine, Sarah, and David inspire, provoke, and praise in a way that I simply can’t live without. My nieces and nephews Ashley, Alicyah, Olivia, Little Ray, Jabari, Jack, Zachary, Lauren Mariana, Anjett, Janiyah, and David belong to me and the world in a way that is just lovely. My brothers-in-law Ravi Howard and Raymond Sullivan are always there when I need them most. Todd Reynolds, Rosi Reyes, Nora Gutierrez , Lisa Dusenberry, Martha Ehrenfeld, Carla McKay, Katherine Baker, Jennifer Ongiri, Anne Wolf, Elisa and Sion Rodriguez y Gibson, Kimerly Cornish, Kimberly Brown, Marisol Arriola, and Jackie Byars provided the very necessary moral and material support to see the project through to completion. Spectacular Blackness This page intentionally left blank ...