Introduction : making black modern in the medium of illustration
An overview of Harlem Renaissance illustrations and their reception. Strategizing from spaces between : Aaron Douglas and the art of illustrating ; From racial uplift to vernacular expression : commercial and little magazine illustrations ; "Worth the price of the book" : dust jacket and book illustrations ; Critical ambivalence : illustration's reception in print
Critical themes in Harlem Renaissance illustration. Remaking the past, making the modern : race, gender, and the modern economy ; Religion as "power site of cultural resistance" ; Black and tan : racial and sexual crossings in Ebony and topaz ; "To smile satirically" : on wearing the minstrel mask
A brief conclusion : on making black modern during the Renaissance and beyond.