Description
Book SynopsisWith chapters on Lead Belly, Thomas Hart Benton, John Huston, Mae West, and Sterling Brown, this innovative book presents a new argument for the centrality of African American folklore as a source of cultural expression in the 1930s.
Trade ReviewMorgan's brilliant examination of race and gender in creative appropriations of the 'Frankie and Johnny' ballad furthers the discourse on how African American folk culture contributed to the unique characteristics of American modernism during the 1930s. * Journal of Southern History *
A well-researched analysis of the complex intersections between African American culture and folklore and mainstream popular music and film culture of the 1930s. * Journal of American Folklore *
[A] masterpiece...
Frankie and Johnny showcases the talents of performers, entertainers, composers, and artists while simultaneously telegraphing the tormented rawness of unrequited fidelity...Morgan’s tireless, copious research yields rich rewards, allowing the reader an emotionally vicarious experience of a 'somebody done somebody wrong' theme. * Journal of African American History *
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1. Frankie and Johnny Take Center Stage: African American Folk Culture in 1930s America
- Chapter 2. Lead Belly's Ninth Symphony: Huddie Ledbetter and the Changing Contours of American Folk Music
- Chapter 3. Pistol Packin' Mama: Imperiled Masculinity in Thomas Hart Benton's A Social History of the State of Missouri
- Chapter 4. Whiteface Marionettes: John Huston's Comic Melodrama
- Chapter 5. The Finest Woman Ever to Walk the Streets: Mae West's Outlaw Exploits in She Done Him Wrong
- Chapter 6. The Lynching of Johnny: Sterling Brown's Social Realist Critique
- Epilogue. African American Women's Voices and the Tightrope of Respectability
- Notes
- Index
