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Race Youth in Twentieth-Century American Literature and Culture

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Race Youth in Twentieth-Century American Literature and Culture University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--English English 2021 Race Youth in Twentieth-Century American Literature and Culture Claire E. Lenviel University of Kentucky, [email protected] Author ORCID Identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6321-2690 Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2021.150 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Lenviel, Claire E., "Race Youth in Twentieth-Century American Literature and Culture" (2021). Theses and Dissertations--English. 125. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/english_etds/125 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the English at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--English by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless an embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s thesis including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Claire E. Lenviel, Student Dr. Michael Trask, Major Professor Dr. Michael Trask, Director of Graduate Studies RACE YOUTH IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE ________________________________________ DISSERTATION ________________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Claire E. Lenviel Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Michael Trask, Guy M. Davenport Professor of English Lexington, Kentucky 2021 Copyright © Claire E. Lenviel 2021 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6321-2690 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION RACE YOUTH IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE Race Youth in Twentieth-Century American Literature and Culture argues for the centrality of black youth, both real and literary, to the trajectories of African American literature and its repudiation of white supremacy. Drawing on research into the rise of the adolescent and teenager as distinct social categories, I argue that age-based subjectivity should inform how we read race-based subjectivity. My first chapter explores how early twentieth-century black periodicals push back against white supremacist theories of human development in an explicit appeal to what I call “race youth,” the children and adolescents who would take up the mantle of racial uplift. My second chapter examines how, amidst the Great Depression, protest writing reframed youth through a discourse of economic vulnerability to confront the inequity of government accountability in the Roosevelt era. I then consider the influence of the teenage rebel figure on post-1945 African American literature and argue that Cold War black authors unveil the deeply entrenched sexual and racial discourses that regulate and discipline rebellion during the turbulent era of desegregation. The final chapter analyzes twenty-first century young adult protest fiction through the lens of the previous century’s development of black adolescent subjectivity. KEYWORDS: Literary Criticism, American Literature, African American, Race, Youth, Adolescence Claire E. Lenviel 04/21/2021 Date RACE YOUTH IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE By Claire E. Lenviel Michael Trask Director of Dissertation Michael Trask Director of Graduate Studies 04/21/2021 To Xherdan Bear: may you be as fierce and defiant as the youth who came before you. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Race Youth is the result of the thorough and dedicated feedback by a number of close advisors, including above all my dissertation advisor, Dr. Michael Trask. Throughout my time as a graduate student at the University of Kentucky, Michael has taught me the value and craft of careful scholarly criticism. I would not be the literary critic or the professional scholar that I am today without his guidance. I am also honored to acknowledge the contributions of my committee members to my scholarship and my professional development. Dr. Alan Nadel, through his rigorous feedback, generous support, and unhesitating championing of my work, has taught me to appreciate the responsibilities and the joys of producing and teaching literary criticism. Dr. Rynetta Davis, a phenomenal reader and professor, has been an unwavering source of personal and professional support since my first semester at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Carol Mason, through a combination of rigorous expectations and unqualified faith in my ability to meet them, has empowered me to see myself as a professional academic. In addition to receiving direct feedback from my committee, I am privileged to thank the English Department for the fellowships and awards that sustained my research. I also am grateful to the English Department faculty for their regular assistance and sound advice and to the English Graduate Student Organization for supporting my research and my professionalization. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the assistance of various academic institutions which have contributed to my scholarship. I thank the organizers and participants of the 20th- and 21st-Century Reading Group in the English Department at the University of Kentucky who graciously read and gave me feedback on my first chapter. I also thank members of the Futures of American Studies Institute at Dartmouth College, reviewers at Mississippi Quarterly, and attendees at the 2020 Modern Language Association conference and the 2017 Louisville Conference for feedback on parts of my second chapter. Lastly, all professional work is sustained by a vast network of personal support, and I could not be more appreciative of my friends and family who have encouraged me during my many years of study as a graduate student. Of note are my friends—Amanda Canan, Leigh Goodman, Leslie Malland, Ashley Ruderman-Looff, Emily Smith—who have supported and celebrated my personal and professional milestones with wild abandon. Above all, I reserve special acknowledgments for my family, including my parents, Judi and Gary Lenviel, and my spouse, Laura, who have collectively sustained my academic aspirations, often at the expense of personal sacrifice. Lastly, I acknowledge you, Xherdan Bear, for whom my study of “youth” is as much personal as it is professional. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii INTRODUCTION—RACE YOUTH IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE ....................................................................................... 1 Chapter Summaries ....................................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER ONE—RACE YOUTH IN BLACK PERIODICALS ................................... 17 G. Stanley Hall and Adolescence as Synecdoche ......................................................... 18 W. E. B. Du Bois, The Crisis, and The Brownies’ Book .............................................. 24 The Defender Junior: The Impact of Bud Billiken ....................................................... 38 Opportunity Magazine: Parenting Black Youth ........................................................... 45 CHAPTER TWO—VULNERABLE YOUTH IN THE PROTEST WRITING OF LANGSTON HUGHES AND RICHARD WRIGHT ...................................................... 63 The Rise of Protest Literature ....................................................................................... 64 Langston Hughes and the Scottsboro Boys .................................................................. 70 Richard Wright: Literary Youth as a Catalyst for Protest ............................................. 84 CHAPTER THREE—REBEL YOUTH IN COLD WAR BLACK LITERATURE ..... 107 William Demby’s Beetlecreek .................................................................................... 118 James Baldwin’s “The Outing” and Go Tell It on the Mountain ............................... 131 Amiri Baraka’s The Toilet .......................................................................................... 148 CHAPTER FOUR—YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE AND THE PROTEST
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