Biography: Alain Locke

"Art must discover and reveal the beauty which prejudice and caricature have overlaid."

Alain Locke was an influential scholar from the Harlem Renaissance period. He was born on September 13, 1886 in Pennsylvania. He graduated from Harvard University in 1907, and became the first African-American Rhodes Scholar. He continued his studies in Europe at Hertford College, University of Berlin, and Collège de France. He later became a professer at Howard University, a Historically Black College in Washington, D.C. Locke was a prominent figure of the Harlem Renaissance, and was very influential. Locke encouraged African-Americans get inspiration from their African ancestors in their work. He was a significant influence on writer Zora Neale Hurston as well as many others.


Locke was the author and editor of many books, his most well-known being The New Negro. The book is a collection of literature by himself as well as many other black writers and artists. It popularized the term "New Negro" which was used during the Harlem Renaissance to refer to blacks who resisted being just what white society wanted them to be. The idea of the New Negro was an inspiration in many future black writer's work. Another of Locke's theories was on "cultural pluralism", which said that all cultures should be able to coexist without assimilating into each other.  He later revised this idea and called it "cultural relativism".


Through his work, Alain Locke displays the Harlem Renaissance themes of pride and identifiation with race. He suggested black artists identify with their African roots, and his cultural pluralism theory states that one should be proud of their heritage while living together with people of other backgrounds. His work on "The New Negro" also reflects the theme of wanting to reconstruct the meaning of Negro.


Sources:
http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ki-Lo/Locke-Alain.html#b
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Locke