Warren makes a clear and compelling case for understanding African American literature as creative and critical work written by black Americans within and against the strictures of Jim Crow America. Within these parameters, his book outlines protocols of reading that best make sense of the literary works produced by African American writers and critics over the first two-thirds of the twentieth century.

Historicizing African American literature -- Particularity and the problem of interpretation -- The future of the past -- Conclusion : the past in the present.