This work investigates how African American writers and performers utilize the concept of 'blackness' as a dynamic, performative construct to redefine the boundaries of American modernism. Kimberley W. Benston, a scholar of African American literature and culture, draws upon a wide array of literary texts, historical documents, and performance theories to argue that black identity is not a static essence but a series of strategic enactments. By analyzing the intersection of racial identity and aesthetic form, the book provides a framework for understanding how modernism was shaped by the very voices it often sought to marginalize.

Scholars frequently cite this text as a foundational contribution to the study of African American modernism and performance theory. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which requires a strong background in literary theory to fully appreciate the author's complex arguments.