The New Negro

<p><I>The New Negro</I> (1925) is an anthology by Alain Locke. Expanded from a March issue of <I>Survey Graphic</I> magazine <I>The New Negro</I> compiles writing from such figures as Countee Cullen Langston Hughes Zora Neale Hurston Jean Toomer and Locke himself. Recognized as a foundational text of the Harlem Renaissance the collection is organized around Locke's writing on the function of art in reorganizing the conception of African American life and culture. Through self-understanding creation and independence Locke's New Negro came to represent a break from an inhumane past a means toward meaningful change for a people held down for far too long.</p><p>[F]or generations in the mind of America the Negro has been more of a formula than a human being-a something to be argued about condemned or defended to be 'kept down' or 'in his place' or 'helped up' to be worried with or worried over harassed or patronized a social bogey or a social burden. Identifying the representation of black Americans in the national imaginary as oppressive in nature Locke suggests a way forward through his theory of the New Negro who wishes to be known for what he is even in his faults and shortcomings and scorns a craven and precarious survival at the price of seeming to be what he is not. Throughout <I>The New Negro</I> leading artists and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance offer their unique visions of who and what they are; voicing their concerns portraying injustice and illuminating the black experience they provide a holistic vision of self-expression in all of its colors and forms.</p><p>With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript this edition of Alain Locke's <I>The New Negro</I> is a classic of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.</p>