In Building the Black Arts Movement, Jonathan Fenderson maps social, political, and intraracial complexities and conflicts within the Black Arts Movement and the Black freedom struggle, more broadly. The work is not a biography; instead, Hoyt Fuller serves as a historical through-line along which to present new perspectives on Black leadership and organizations in the United States, new questions about the Pan-African transnational artistic networks, and more nuanced understandings of African American histories of the mid-twentieth century.
In his first two chapters, Fenderson argues that while confronting racial barriers, institutions like the Negro Digest and the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC) were fundamentally impacted by capitalistic constraints. Negro Digest was one of, if not the most circulated Black periodical of its time, yet CEO John Johnson (who later founded Ebony and Jet magazines) refused to invest in his most radical and political magazine because he was much more drawn to personal financial gain that accompanied the celebrity, sensationalism, and glamorous side of Black life. Fenderson similarly suggests that members of OBAC were vulnerable to the realities of capitalism, and, spelling the doom of the organization, many leading members decided to pursue more prestigious and stabile positions across the country. Through these examples he uncovers the ways that the Black Arts Movement experienced both internal and external financial impediments that impacted its longevity.
Additionally, Fenderson considers how the Black freedom struggle was linked to transnational and global stages. He meticulously follows Fuller’s organizing efforts for many Pan-African events as well as his relationships with African American and Pan-African leaders. It is through tracking these global interactions that the author is able to unveil traces of political irreconcilability between many leaders and governmental entities across the African Diaspora. Furthermore, Fenderson exposes the stakes of global solidarity work, for Fuller was ultimately fired from the Johnson Publishing Company (JPC) and the Negro Digest was dissolved, in part because of Fuller’s anti-Zionist political views. Most provocative are the last few chapters of the book in which Fenderson discusses Fuller’s secret sexuality and the implications of non-heteronormativity within Black leadership and the Black Arts Movement. In these pages, Fenderson uses a combination of methodologies from both history and queer studies to put together the pieces of Fuller’s private identity, while interrogating how his closest comrades and antagonists responded to his biggest secret.
By incorporating the ways in which racism, capitalism, and heterosexism impacted the Black Arts Movement, Fenderson succeeds in challenging readers to rethink Fuller’s times by presenting a counternarrative to the oftentimes overly harmonious representation of Black social movements in the United States. This volume would be useful to both young and seasoned scholars, as in its engaging pages, Fenderson develops an innovative, intersectional analysis of a well-studied era. Additionally, the author’s ability to highlight issues of capitalism, gender, and sexuality makes it an amazingly strong contribution to African American studies, gender studies, political science, and media studies. Though the book contends with many of the complexities of African American life in the mid-twentieth century, Fenderson makes a strong case for the significance and cultural influence of Hoyt Fuller in the Black Arts Movement as an example of far wider social forces of his day.
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[Review length: 531 words • Review posted on March 18, 2021]