Alain L. Locke
(1886-1954)

Alain Leroy Locke, a native of Philadelphia, was an educator, interpreter, philosopher, writer, critic, and promoter of Black culture. After attending Oxford University in England for three years and then the University of Berlin, he received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1918. He was a professor of philosophy at Howard University for thirty-six years and became the first Black Rhodes Scholar.

Locke was the leading intellectual spokesman for the upsurge of creativity among African-Americans in literature, art, and drama. He played a major role in promoting the careers of Black writers and artists. By encouraging serious critical review of their work, many aspiring writers and artists looked to him for direction and assistance. He also helped to make the public aware of Black artists and musicians.

Locke edited writings of Black authors in an epochal book in 1925 called The New Negro. This was an anthology of essays, stories, poems, and artwork defining the Black experience and the Harlem Renaissance. He then emerged as the principal force and spokesman for what was called "The New Negro Movement," commonly referred to as the "Harlem Renaissance."

In 1925, Dr. Locke published Survey Graphic, described by Dr. John Hope Franklin as the "Renaissance's most significant recognition" and that "the Renaissance had come of age."

To understand this, one must understand the Harlem Renaissance. Though it was a part of America's growing interest in literary expression there were two factors that gave impetus to African-American writings during this period following WWI. One was their mass migration from the South. This required that the Black man had to acquire self-confidence. Then he had fought in the war and bitterness over discrimination welled up like never before. Black writers like Dr. Locke, poured out their protests in a great stream of literature and music.

In 1933, he published The Negro in America; in 1936, The Negro and His Music in Art. For many years he wrote reviews of the developments in literature by Black authors.

Dr. Locke received many rewards and honors. He was the first Black elected to be president of the National Council of Adult Education becoming an exchange professor to Haiti in 1943, and a visiting professor to Fisk University and to the University of Wisconsin.

He was so busy that he never completed his own masterpiece The Negro in American Culture, but otherwise lived up to every expectation!