Alain LeRoy Locke

Born: 1885 Philadelphia, PA

Died: 1954

Author, philosopher, educator, patron of the arts & first African American Rhodes Scholar.

Called “Dean” of the Harlem Renaissance (known as the New Negro Movement at the time) which was a cultural, social and artistic explosion that happened in Harlem, NY in the 1920s.

He had an incredible list of published works but his book New Negro was his most important and well-known work.

A collection of writings by many African Americans, New Negro was an important work in black literature for its discussion of the potential for black equality, even being called the “first national book” of African American people.