Queer Aesthetics in the History of African American Art

Recalling the dismissive American response to his 1968 novel A Bear for the F.B.I. (Un Ours Pour Le F.B.I.), the acclaimed African American filmmaker Melvin van Peebles quipped: “When I sent my book to American publishers, they said, ‘It’s very good, but it’s not black enough.’ I said, ‘What does it mean, it’s not black enough?’ ‘Well, we don’t feel your anguish of being black. And furthermore, give us some lynching in there.’” ¹