This book studies fictional homespaces in African American literature from those set in the time of slavery to modern urban configurations of the homespace. The author examines the factors that influence homespaces in African American literature and analyzes why African American writers often portray troubling and dysfunctional homespaces.

Introduction: Home in African American Literature: Difficult to Define, Challenging to Claim

Chapter 1: Movement, Migration, and Homelessness

Margaret Walker's Jubilee (1966)

Chapter 2: Where I Live is Not Home

James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953); Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (1970);

Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog (2001)

Chapter 3: Lonely Place, Unwelcoming Space

A. J. Verdelle's The Good Negress (1995)

Chapter 4: A Mother's Desire, A Son's Hell

Daniel Black's Perfect Peace (2010)

Chapter 5: A Mother's Domination, A Family's Submission

Dorothy West's The Living Is Easy (1940)

Chapter 6: Wrapped in Imagination and Desire

Countee Cullen, "Heritage"; Ann Petry, "Mother Africa"; Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (1959); Alice Walker, "Everyday Use" (1973); Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon (1977); Phyllis Alesia Perry, Stigmata (1998); Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing (2016); James Weldon Johnson; Sterling A. Brown

Conclusion: While We're in This Place . . .