Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. Chapter One. Frankie and Johnny Take Center Stage: African American Folk Culture in 1930s America 1
5. Chapter Two. Lead Belly’s Ninth Symphony: Huddie Ledbetter and the Changing Contours of American Folk Music 35
6. Chapter Three. Pistol Packin’ Mama: Imperiled Masculinity in Thomas Hart Benton’s A Social History of the State of Missouri 81
7. Chapter Four. Whiteface Marionettes: John Huston’s Comic Melodrama 111
8. Chapter Five. The Finest Woman Ever to Walk the Streets: Mae West’s Outlaw Exploits in She Done Him Wrong 138
9. Chapter Six. The Lynching of Johnny: Sterling Brown’s Social Realist Critique 172
10. Epilogue. African American Women’s Voices and the Tightrope of Respectability 203
11. Notes 219
12. Index 255