Alain Locke Edits 'The New Negro'—Defining Anthology of the Harlem Renaissance

Philosopher and Howard University professor Alain Locke edited 'The New Negro' (1925), an anthology collecting the major literary, artistic, and intellectual voices of the Harlem Renaissance. With illustrations by Aaron Douglas and Winold Reiss, contributions by Hughes, Cullen, Toomer, Hurston, McKay, Du Bois, and others, and Locke's own landmark critical essays, the volume defined the movement for subsequent generations. Locke's concept of the 'New Negro' articulated a post-migration Black cultural identity asserting both African roots and modern American ambition.