Conclusion

This book focuses on African American women, and more specifically, African American womanhood to complicate a masculinist conceptualization of “New Negro,” both historically and historiographically. The usage of a feminist historical approach to the New Negro era and to the early twentieth century urban upper south uncovers a new history of African American struggles for freedom and equality through exploring Jim and Jane Crow exclusionary practices. Applying this approach to explorations of historically marginalized communities can reveal untold stories. Moreover, African American women’s expressivity and creation of counterpublics remain ripe sites for critical interventions for women’s historians and feminist scholars. By challenging and expanding how we think about expressivity, we enrich our understandings of the historical experiences and the distinct political and cultural contributions of African American women in the shaping the United States.