New Negroes & Their Music: Success of the Harlem Renaissance

Boldly conceived and compellingly argued, this revisionist work offers a new interpretation of the Harlem Renaissance by focusing on its music. Jon Michael Spencer challenges the emphasis of earlier studies—which tended to bypass music in favor of literature—as well as their general conclusion that the Renaissance was a failure because it offered an inadequate solution to the old problem of racism.

Spencer’s discussion encompasses the music and writings of a wide range of important figures...