“Auditions”

Editors’ Note: The first literary selection is a previously unpublished novel chapter by John McCluskey Jr. “Auditions” draws on the same body of research that was the basis for his essay on Frederick Douglass’s participation in the Columbian Exposition (see chapter 2 of the current volume). “Auditions” employs resources of the literary imagination to augment archival research and dramatically engage the questions that preoccupied the aging leader as he contemplated the high stakes in planning the Colored American Day celebration to be held at the fair on August 25, 1893. These questions—about the meaning of civilization, the goals of art, the relationship between “high” and “low,” “classical” and “vernacular” expressive forms—would continue to trouble the waters for black writers, artists, and intellectuals and are reflected in many of the events, visual and literary works, debates, and manifestoes described throughout the current collection....