J. Saunders Redding was not the first to write a book on Afro-American literature. His work was preceded by that of Benjamin Brawley (1910), Vernon Loggins (1931), Nick Aaron Ford (1936), and Sterling Brown (1937). Nevertheless To Make a Poet Black (1939), his first book and his only one of literary criticism, does bear the distinction of being the first comprehensive serious critical work devoted exclusively to Afro-American literature up to the Harlem Renaissance written by an Afro-American. Redding is not solely a pioneer in the field; decades after his initial critical statements were made his work is still the standard by which others are measured. Apart from To Make a Poet Black Redding's literary criticism appears in articles published in many literary and scholarly journals. In these pieces he has both examined more recent, post-Harlem Renaissance literature and refined his opinions on earlier works.

Redding has often been called a conservative, and...