Hokum: Black Humor, Social Satire, and Racial Masquerade in the Harlem Renaissance

Abstract This article examines three key debates about Black humor during the Harlem Renaissance, framing them as public “symposia” that reflect conflicting views on comedy’s role in Black cultural and political life. It argues that Harlem Renaissance comedy can be grouped into three categories: repression, rebellion, and revision. While scholars often interpret Black humor as a tool for survival or subversion, this article contends that it is rooted in cynicism—a “Black cynical reason” aware of the illusions of racial capitalism but skeptical that self-aware satire could resist them. Harlem Renaissance comedy critiqued white supremacy but also created internal tensions within the Black community, highlighting the complex relationship between resistance and complicity. The article explores this dynamic through three debates: the 1926 Crisis exchange between W. E. B. Du Bois and Carl Van Vechten, reflected in Jessie Redmon Fauset’s Comedy: American Style ; the 1926 Nation debate between Langston Hughes and George Schuyler, explored through Schuyler’s Black No More ; and Ralph Ellison’s 1958 exchange with Stanley Edgar Hyman in the Partisan Review , examined through Ellison’s essays. The article concludes that while Harlem Renaissance comedy advanced sharp critiques and inspired future activism, comedy itself struggles to produce putative political or social change.