“In so many ways and to so many people, Hughes was 'the Negro,' or at least 'Negro literature,' its public face, its spoken voice and cock­tail-party embodiment as well as the source of its printed texts.”

The coming age of the post-nationalist black aesthetic.

Ellison's near fanatical commitment to sound novelistic form and structure has loads to do with why 'Juneteenth' wasn't published while he was alive.