Authentic Blackness - «Real» Blackness explores and explains the idea of authenticity of
«keeping it real » as it relates to the multi-faceted meanings of blackness in the United
States and the world. Including reflections on hip-hop comedy literature intellectual
history and autobiography the collection gives both a broad overview of and intervenes in the
debates concerning blackness. A comprehensive introductory essay outlines the history of the
idea of «authentic blackness » while other chapters examine the contours of blackness in Canada
and Jamaica the relationship between middle-class status and «real» blackness the link
between «blackness» and hip-hop culture Dave Chappelle's comedy and the work of James Baldwin
Countee Cullen Clarence Major and John Edgar Wideman as it comments on authenticity in
relation to race.
