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The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke
A tiny, fastidiously dressed man emerged from Black Philadelphia around the turn of the century to mentor a generation of young artists including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jacob Lawrence and call them the New Negro -- the creative African Americans whose art, literature, music, and drama would inspire Black people to greatness.
In the prize-winning The New The Life of Alain Locke , Jeffrey C. Stewart offers the definitive biography of the father of the Harlem Renaissance, based on the extant primary sources of his life and on interviews with those who knew him personally. He narrates the education of Locke, including his becoming the first African American Rhodes Scholar and earning a PhD in philosophy at Harvard University, and his long career as a professor at Howard University. Locke also received a cosmopolitan, aesthetic education through his travels in continental Europe, where he came to appreciate the beauty of art and experienced a freedom unknown to him in the United States. And yet he became most closely associated with the flowering of Black culture in Jazz Age America and his promotion of the literary and artistic work of African Americans as the quintessential creations of American modernism. In the process he looked to Africa to find the proud and beautiful roots of the race. Shifting
the discussion of race from politics and economics to the arts, he helped establish the idea that Black urban communities could be crucibles of creativity. Stewart explores both Locke's professional and private life, including his relationships with his mother, his friends, and his white patrons, as well as his lifelong search for love as a gay man.
Stewart's thought-provoking biography recreates the worlds of this illustrious, enigmatic man who, in promoting the cultural heritage of Black people, became--in the process--a New Negro himself.
In the prize-winning The New The Life of Alain Locke , Jeffrey C. Stewart offers the definitive biography of the father of the Harlem Renaissance, based on the extant primary sources of his life and on interviews with those who knew him personally. He narrates the education of Locke, including his becoming the first African American Rhodes Scholar and earning a PhD in philosophy at Harvard University, and his long career as a professor at Howard University. Locke also received a cosmopolitan, aesthetic education through his travels in continental Europe, where he came to appreciate the beauty of art and experienced a freedom unknown to him in the United States. And yet he became most closely associated with the flowering of Black culture in Jazz Age America and his promotion of the literary and artistic work of African Americans as the quintessential creations of American modernism. In the process he looked to Africa to find the proud and beautiful roots of the race. Shifting
the discussion of race from politics and economics to the arts, he helped establish the idea that Black urban communities could be crucibles of creativity. Stewart explores both Locke's professional and private life, including his relationships with his mother, his friends, and his white patrons, as well as his lifelong search for love as a gay man.
Stewart's thought-provoking biography recreates the worlds of this illustrious, enigmatic man who, in promoting the cultural heritage of Black people, became--in the process--a New Negro himself.
944 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2018
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About the author
Jeffrey C. Stewart
17 books30 followersJeffrey C. Stewart is a professor of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Jeffrey C. Stewart is a graduate of Yale University, where he received his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in American Studies. He was Director of Research at the Smithsonian Institution's Anacostia Museum, a curator at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, and a senior advisor to the Reginald Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture in Baltimore, Maryland. The author of numerous articles, essays and books, Dr. Stewart has taught at Harvard University, Yale University, UCLA, Tufts University, Howard University, Scripps College, and George Mason University before coming to the University of California at Santa Barbara as Professor and Chair of the Department of Black Studies from 2008-2016. During his tenure as chair, he launched an international three day conference, "1968: A Global Year of Student Driven Change," that brought more than 40 activists, scholars, and artists to campus to discuss the activist, critical, aesthetic, and educational implications of 1968 http://www.blackstudies.ucsb.edu/1968/; an outdoor exhibit called the North Hall Display to commemorate the events of 1968 takeover of North Hall that transformed the UCSB curriculum and campus climate; and Jeffrey's Jazz Coffeehouse, a pop-up jazz club situated in a local eatery to reconfigure space with jazz aesthetics--now occurring at Aladdin in Isla Vista. https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?....
Stewart's most recent publication is “Beyond Category: Before Afro-Futurism there was Norman Lewis,” in Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, November 2015), an exhibition catalogue that won the 2017 Alfred H. Barr Award of the College Art Association http://www.collegeart.org/news/2017/0....
Jeffrey C. Stewart is a graduate of Yale University, where he received his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in American Studies. He was Director of Research at the Smithsonian Institution's Anacostia Museum, a curator at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, and a senior advisor to the Reginald Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture in Baltimore, Maryland. The author of numerous articles, essays and books, Dr. Stewart has taught at Harvard University, Yale University, UCLA, Tufts University, Howard University, Scripps College, and George Mason University before coming to the University of California at Santa Barbara as Professor and Chair of the Department of Black Studies from 2008-2016. During his tenure as chair, he launched an international three day conference, "1968: A Global Year of Student Driven Change," that brought more than 40 activists, scholars, and artists to campus to discuss the activist, critical, aesthetic, and educational implications of 1968 http://www.blackstudies.ucsb.edu/1968/; an outdoor exhibit called the North Hall Display to commemorate the events of 1968 takeover of North Hall that transformed the UCSB curriculum and campus climate; and Jeffrey's Jazz Coffeehouse, a pop-up jazz club situated in a local eatery to reconfigure space with jazz aesthetics--now occurring at Aladdin in Isla Vista. https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?....
Stewart's most recent publication is “Beyond Category: Before Afro-Futurism there was Norman Lewis,” in Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, November 2015), an exhibition catalogue that won the 2017 Alfred H. Barr Award of the College Art Association http://www.collegeart.org/news/2017/0....
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
August 4, 2019
This is a very long book. It won the 2018 National Book Award for Non-fiction. This is the biography of Alain Locke (1885-1954), the father of the Harlem Renaissance. He was the mentor to many black artists.
The book is well written and meticulously researched. Stewart also interviewed many people that knew Locke. Locke was the first African American Rhodes Scholar. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University. His main idea was that African-American communities could be crucibles of creativity. This is an excellent biography even if it bogged down at times. I had not read any of Jeffrey C. Stewart’s books or had I heard of Alain Locke before reading this book. So, I learned a lot from reading this book.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book was 45 hours and thirty-four minutes. (That would be 944 pages in printed format). Bill Andrew Quinn did a good job narrating the book. Quinn is a voice-over artist, audiobook narrator and host of his own radio show.
The book is well written and meticulously researched. Stewart also interviewed many people that knew Locke. Locke was the first African American Rhodes Scholar. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University. His main idea was that African-American communities could be crucibles of creativity. This is an excellent biography even if it bogged down at times. I had not read any of Jeffrey C. Stewart’s books or had I heard of Alain Locke before reading this book. So, I learned a lot from reading this book.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book was 45 hours and thirty-four minutes. (That would be 944 pages in printed format). Bill Andrew Quinn did a good job narrating the book. Quinn is a voice-over artist, audiobook narrator and host of his own radio show.
April 16, 2019
This is a massive tome (over 900 pages), well researched and lovingly written. I had never heard of Alain Locke before, but his accomplishments were profound. Hailed as the architect of the Harlem Renaissance, he gained degrees in philosophy from Harvard and was the first African American Rhodes Scholar. Full disclosure -- I did not read this from cover to cover, and would not have chosen it had I known its ponderous size (unlike its subject who was quite diminutive), but I give it highest marks because of the quality of that which I did read, its bringing to attention the life of someone so important, and the value it would have for a researcher of African American history.
July 5, 2019
What a tremendous achievement. The best biographies are always about much more than the subject and that is the case with this one. It is about being gay and Black in the victorian era. It is about the tension of seeking money from white donors to do black art. It is about the Harlem Renaissance and the divisions between Locke, Hughes, DuBois, Hurston, etc. It is about racism and misogyny even within the black art scene. It is about the American and European art and literature scene and how it dealt with African art and empire. The book is long, but it's so good and so worthwhile. Locke is not a hero. He is a very complicated person.
October 13, 2019
This lengthy biography adopted its title from Alain Locke’s publication in the 1920s that captured his and others writings from the early Harlem Renaissance but the bio doesn’t spend anytime analyzing that book.
Locke, who was African-American, was an influential professor and patron of African-American art and culture. He graduated from Harvard with a PhD in Philosophy and was the first African-American to be awarded a Rhodes scholarship in 1903. He did not complete his degree at Oxford there due to a combination of racism by fellow American students abroad, a strict focus by his advisors on Greek and Latin classics and the fact that he struggled to pay his bills, choosing instead to take frequent vacations to mainland Europe. He later became a professor at Howard University where he focused his professional and personal time on the Harlem Renaissance and mentoring students and young writers like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. He was also a notable patron of the fine arts.
Locke was also gay and had to navigate a society, the U.S., that was quite repressive and antagonistic toward homosexuals. The author explains that this, in part, was why Locke preferred to spend as much time in Europe where most societies were not as repressive. So the fact that someone with these traits (African-American and gay) was able to navigate a bigoted society to achieve success says a lot about his extreme intellect and ambition. What Locke was able to achieve as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance by taking a different path from the NAACP and DuBois is also notable.
3.5 stars. I guess I can understand why the biography won the National Book Award this year. It is a detailed work of scholarship about a largely forgotten but influential figure. But the writing also lacks drama, of which I think there is enough in Locke’s life to exploit. To wit when Locke’s parents pass away and even when Locke himself dies and it amounts to just a paragraph in a nine hundred page book, it seems the author is missing the bigger picture. I feel that the inner character of Locke gets lost amongst the day to day details of academia and his travels where there are hundreds of pages dedicated to his frequent European trips alone.
Locke, who was African-American, was an influential professor and patron of African-American art and culture. He graduated from Harvard with a PhD in Philosophy and was the first African-American to be awarded a Rhodes scholarship in 1903. He did not complete his degree at Oxford there due to a combination of racism by fellow American students abroad, a strict focus by his advisors on Greek and Latin classics and the fact that he struggled to pay his bills, choosing instead to take frequent vacations to mainland Europe. He later became a professor at Howard University where he focused his professional and personal time on the Harlem Renaissance and mentoring students and young writers like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. He was also a notable patron of the fine arts.
Locke was also gay and had to navigate a society, the U.S., that was quite repressive and antagonistic toward homosexuals. The author explains that this, in part, was why Locke preferred to spend as much time in Europe where most societies were not as repressive. So the fact that someone with these traits (African-American and gay) was able to navigate a bigoted society to achieve success says a lot about his extreme intellect and ambition. What Locke was able to achieve as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance by taking a different path from the NAACP and DuBois is also notable.
3.5 stars. I guess I can understand why the biography won the National Book Award this year. It is a detailed work of scholarship about a largely forgotten but influential figure. But the writing also lacks drama, of which I think there is enough in Locke’s life to exploit. To wit when Locke’s parents pass away and even when Locke himself dies and it amounts to just a paragraph in a nine hundred page book, it seems the author is missing the bigger picture. I feel that the inner character of Locke gets lost amongst the day to day details of academia and his travels where there are hundreds of pages dedicated to his frequent European trips alone.
September 3, 2018
(((( B R E A T H )))) This was an incredible long read for me but very worth it. Alain Locke is/was not well known, but he IS an important figure as he provided inspiration for more well known artists.
Writeous.
Writeous.
February 10, 2023
The 2019 Pulitzer Prize winning book about the "Father of the Harlem Renaissance".
You would think that this book would easily rate 4 or 5 stars.
So why am I giving it a weak 3 star rating? Because I felt that the author missed a golden opportunity. [NOTE: See comment below as to why I lowered it after this review.]
The Harlem Renaissance (AKA the New Negro Movement) is a period of American history that most American's do not know existed. Those who are familiar with it, are probably mostly familiar with it because of the impact it had on music (the birth of Jazz) and fashion. Other aspects (literature, drama, and philosophy) take a back seat.
Jeffrey Stewart chose to focus on Alain Locke.
Don't get me wrong, it is a biography on Alain Locke, so the subject is rightly Locke.
Unfortunately, nearly a 1,000 pages long and the book did not really provide a hook as to why we should care about Locke. Yes, at the end he discussed how Locke's New Negro impacted modern America, but thoughout the book I was more likely to think, "I can understand why Locke is less known than Booker T Washington or W.E.B Du Bois" than to think that he was a pivotal voice in black history/culture.
The book focused too much on Locke's sexual tensions/frustrations than upon his impact.
The sections where Stewart discussed his philosophy/ideas were fascinating. Unfortunately, they were lost in Locke's pursuit of sex.
You would think that this book would easily rate 4 or 5 stars.
So why am I giving it a weak 3 star rating? Because I felt that the author missed a golden opportunity. [NOTE: See comment below as to why I lowered it after this review.]
The Harlem Renaissance (AKA the New Negro Movement) is a period of American history that most American's do not know existed. Those who are familiar with it, are probably mostly familiar with it because of the impact it had on music (the birth of Jazz) and fashion. Other aspects (literature, drama, and philosophy) take a back seat.
Jeffrey Stewart chose to focus on Alain Locke.
Don't get me wrong, it is a biography on Alain Locke, so the subject is rightly Locke.
Unfortunately, nearly a 1,000 pages long and the book did not really provide a hook as to why we should care about Locke. Yes, at the end he discussed how Locke's New Negro impacted modern America, but thoughout the book I was more likely to think, "I can understand why Locke is less known than Booker T Washington or W.E.B Du Bois" than to think that he was a pivotal voice in black history/culture.
The book focused too much on Locke's sexual tensions/frustrations than upon his impact.
The sections where Stewart discussed his philosophy/ideas were fascinating. Unfortunately, they were lost in Locke's pursuit of sex.
Want to read
June 18, 2018Locke became a "mid-wife to a generation of young writers," as he labeled himself, a catalyst for a revolution in thinking called the New Negro. The deeper truth was that he, Alain Locke, was also the New Negro, for he embodied all of its contradictions as well as its promise. Rather than lamenting his situation, his marginality, his quiet suffering, he would take what his society and his culture had given him and make something revolutionary out of it.
April 16, 2019
Though regarded as the "dean" of the Harlem Renaissance, Alain LeRoy Locke's name is not one that usually comes to mind when most people think of the movement. Yet it was the Philadelphia-born philosopher who provided much of the intellectual framework for it, most notably with his concept of the "New Negro." That Jeffrey Stewart uses the name as the title for his in-depth biography of Locke both highlights its role in defining Locke's legacy and the degree to which it was a product of Locke's own life and experiences.
The only child of middle-class parents, Locke grew up in Gilded Age Philadelphia. Stewart stresses the predominant role Locke's mother Mary played in his life, particularly in inculcating a passion for education. Graduating from Harvard, Locke became a celebrity among African Americans by becoming the nation's first black Rhodes scholar, though he was frustrated in his efforts to complete his degree there. Returning to America, he started teaching at Howard University, moving from education to philosophy after earning his doctorate at Harvard. Yet it was his work on race that would endure, particularly with his promotion of African and African-American culture in both art and literature. Though the Renaissance as a movement declined by the end of the 1920s, Locke had succeeded in redefining African American identity in ways that embraced their heritage while reaffirming its place in American life.
Locke's role in this has long deserved its due, and Stewart has provided it. His biography provides readers with a deeply perceptive study of Locke's life and achievements, one that situates them both within his time and the circumstances of his life. His is especially good at describing the central role Locke's homosexuality played in his life, which is no small achievement considering the degree to which such matters often went unspoken back then. That doing so requires a degree of supposition on Stewart's part is understandable, but his judgments are reasoned and well-argued. Together it makes for a masterful achievement, one that gives Locke the recognition he deserves for his many accomplishments.
The only child of middle-class parents, Locke grew up in Gilded Age Philadelphia. Stewart stresses the predominant role Locke's mother Mary played in his life, particularly in inculcating a passion for education. Graduating from Harvard, Locke became a celebrity among African Americans by becoming the nation's first black Rhodes scholar, though he was frustrated in his efforts to complete his degree there. Returning to America, he started teaching at Howard University, moving from education to philosophy after earning his doctorate at Harvard. Yet it was his work on race that would endure, particularly with his promotion of African and African-American culture in both art and literature. Though the Renaissance as a movement declined by the end of the 1920s, Locke had succeeded in redefining African American identity in ways that embraced their heritage while reaffirming its place in American life.
Locke's role in this has long deserved its due, and Stewart has provided it. His biography provides readers with a deeply perceptive study of Locke's life and achievements, one that situates them both within his time and the circumstances of his life. His is especially good at describing the central role Locke's homosexuality played in his life, which is no small achievement considering the degree to which such matters often went unspoken back then. That doing so requires a degree of supposition on Stewart's part is understandable, but his judgments are reasoned and well-argued. Together it makes for a masterful achievement, one that gives Locke the recognition he deserves for his many accomplishments.
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February 13, 2020
This book is a MESS. It's loaded with "Current-Year-isms" ("gender identity," "patriarchy," "queer-consciousness," etc.). The author even celebrates Locke being molested as part of Alain's childhood "initiation" into homosexuality. Yet at the same time, Stewart HEAVILY relies on outdated 1980s-era psychoanalysis and 3rd wave feminsit misandry towards straight black men. Readable? Sure. But less history, more screed.
E.G.: Stewart (and perhaps Locke? he seems to project his ideas onto Locke so often that I feel like I'm really reading a manifesto by Stewart, not a biography of Locke...) seems to believe Tennyson was a staunch 20th-century atheist pushing for a Darwinian interpretation of existence and culture... No references to justify that. It's just presented as fact which, in Stewart's mind, justifies Locke's interest in Tennyson. It can be the only justification, Stewart seems to believe, because Stewart sees nothing else of any possible worth in Tennyson. And to get to that you have to wade through so much of Stewart's "Yes-we-have-no-proof-but-trust-me-all-these-men-were-Locke's-secret-lovers-and-anyone-who-wasn't-was-actually-someone-Locke-was-actually-secretly-in-love-with-because-GAY-amirite?" We get it, Stewart. Locke was a homosexual. THERE WAS CONSIDERABLY MORE TO HIM THAN THAT.
Long story short, this isn't a work I can recommend. Stewart stands in front of Locke, demanding you look NOT at Locke but rather at Stewart himself or at the cartoon pastiche of Locke which Stewart has sketched in front of you. There's a lot of information, yes, but you have to wade through miles of Stewart's groundless projections and vain imaginings and specious assumptions just to get anywhere near it. This book is exhausting and unrewarding, unworthy of the effort and unworthy of Locke.
ADDENDUM: It's also frustrating because I know what Locke looked like, yet every single time Stewart described him physically I could not stop imagining Prince. I suppose, child of the '80s that I am, "tiny troubled light-skinned Black savant" is just frozen in my mind as "Prince."
E.G.: Stewart (and perhaps Locke? he seems to project his ideas onto Locke so often that I feel like I'm really reading a manifesto by Stewart, not a biography of Locke...) seems to believe Tennyson was a staunch 20th-century atheist pushing for a Darwinian interpretation of existence and culture... No references to justify that. It's just presented as fact which, in Stewart's mind, justifies Locke's interest in Tennyson. It can be the only justification, Stewart seems to believe, because Stewart sees nothing else of any possible worth in Tennyson. And to get to that you have to wade through so much of Stewart's "Yes-we-have-no-proof-but-trust-me-all-these-men-were-Locke's-secret-lovers-and-anyone-who-wasn't-was-actually-someone-Locke-was-actually-secretly-in-love-with-because-GAY-amirite?" We get it, Stewart. Locke was a homosexual. THERE WAS CONSIDERABLY MORE TO HIM THAN THAT.
Long story short, this isn't a work I can recommend. Stewart stands in front of Locke, demanding you look NOT at Locke but rather at Stewart himself or at the cartoon pastiche of Locke which Stewart has sketched in front of you. There's a lot of information, yes, but you have to wade through miles of Stewart's groundless projections and vain imaginings and specious assumptions just to get anywhere near it. This book is exhausting and unrewarding, unworthy of the effort and unworthy of Locke.
ADDENDUM: It's also frustrating because I know what Locke looked like, yet every single time Stewart described him physically I could not stop imagining Prince. I suppose, child of the '80s that I am, "tiny troubled light-skinned Black savant" is just frozen in my mind as "Prince."
February 10, 2019
An incredibly dense but rewarding read. I learned so much about the Harlem Renaissance, the changing views of Black art and culture, and the movers and shakers in the Black intellectual spheres of the 1920s-40s.
This is, primarily, a philosophical and intellectual biography of Locke. Where Stewart examines Locke's relationships, it's in the interest of how they influenced his worldview and philosophy. At times, this means that it's harder to grasp what Locke's daily life was actually like. There are times when Stewart describes some of Locke's practices as a gay man, and how he navigated the layers of closets while also being as close to "out" as his situation would allow, but the focus is definitely on how people influenced Locke and how he influenced them, rather than on his friendships and lovers. This sometimes left me feeling a bit adrift, and I was left feeling that I knew how Locke thought, but maybe not what he was really like, especially in his later years. Stewart tells us that Locke built a family of sorts of other friends and outcasts, but little of that family feeling is revealed in the biography.
I feel that this is an incredibly important, well-written, well-researched biography. I hope it's just the first of more books from other authors exploring Locke.
This is, primarily, a philosophical and intellectual biography of Locke. Where Stewart examines Locke's relationships, it's in the interest of how they influenced his worldview and philosophy. At times, this means that it's harder to grasp what Locke's daily life was actually like. There are times when Stewart describes some of Locke's practices as a gay man, and how he navigated the layers of closets while also being as close to "out" as his situation would allow, but the focus is definitely on how people influenced Locke and how he influenced them, rather than on his friendships and lovers. This sometimes left me feeling a bit adrift, and I was left feeling that I knew how Locke thought, but maybe not what he was really like, especially in his later years. Stewart tells us that Locke built a family of sorts of other friends and outcasts, but little of that family feeling is revealed in the biography.
I feel that this is an incredibly important, well-written, well-researched biography. I hope it's just the first of more books from other authors exploring Locke.
August 21, 2019
It took a while to get to the core of the book, but once there it was very rewarding. Stewart did a massive amount of research. The book is best for a real academic or someone with a very strong interest in Locke and his personal position in the first half of the twentieth century. Stewart is meticulous in tracing the debates about the relationship between African art, European heritage, African American artists and the black and white audiences of the time. The positions of the various intellectuals, artists, and critics kept evolving, and Stewart argues that Locke was key in shaping the debate and growing in sophistication and intent on this topic as he matured.
I read it more to get a grounding in African American arts and their development during this period than to learn about Locke per se. I did get that, and it turned out to be a fascinating co-read with two other books (see below), but some skimming would have been in order if I"d had a hard copy. I listened to it. It's well read, but seems to exist in a strange corner of the physical universe; the longer I listened the more of it was left to listen to (it seemed). I was listening at 1.75x, but instead of lasting less than its stated 48 hours, it seemed to take 90 hours.
Locke was raised by his mother after the early death of his father. Both parents were middle class and emphasized education. He was very small and frail, and knew he was gay from an early age. Obviously this was problematic throughout his life, and Stewart uses it as the framework for his analysis. The problem is that he repeats himself on the topic endlessly, especially in the first two fifths of the book. Locke's psychological dependence on his mother lasted for decades. Eventually he emerged from this stage, but it was sad that he never had a lasting, satisfactory relationship.
But Locke was as aesthete from an early age, and very ambitious. He was the first black Rhodes scholar, and spent much of his early years in or trying to get back to Europe. He studied for a time in Germany, after Cambridge. In time he earned a PhD in philosophy from Harvard. At this point he was mainly engaged in the theory of value. He ended up teaching at Howard, although most of his life he was busily making a place for himself off campus as a speaker, writer, critic, curator, sponsor and advisor of young artists, publisher, gadfly, promoter of cultural resources, etc etc. He was in constant competition with W E B Dubois and others for leadership roles in these circles. In many ways he was his own worst enemy, first as a procrastinating student and later as a waspish, sometimes vindictive colleague. Much of his work was entangled with actual or hoped-for sexual/romantic relationships with writers and visual artists of the time.
I can't begin to summarize the full progression of Locke's philosophy of aesthetics or his ideas about the place of the black artist in the United States. Early on he emphasized the necessity for beauty, immersed in his European experiences, and denigrated 'propaganda' art about racial issues. Then he spent many years emphasizing the role of African art in European modern art and bringing African art to attention in America. He argued that the true achievements of American art emerged from the cultural traditions and artistic work of African Americans. This underlay his role in the Harlem Renaissance. Later, as the Great Depression and race riots brought home the conditions most blacks faced, and that he was somewhat insulated from, he became more radical and developed a value philosophy with a role for expressing political ideas as well as beauty.
I read this in concert with Invisible: The Forgotten story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen Carter and A Particular Kind of Black Man, the debut novel by Tope Folarin. Carter writes about his grandmother Eunice Carter, about 15 years younger than Locke, who worked for Dewey on his team of lawyers charged with fighting the Mafia in 1920s New York City. Eunice Carter researched and developed the strategy that finally corralled Lucky Luciano by linking him to organized prostitution. She went on to a career as a government prosecutor, a dogged campaigner in Republican politics, and a figure in international issues. But she never reached the heights she felt her early success justified.
Like Locke, she came from the black middle class, with parents active in YMCA organizing and education. Her mother took the children to live in Germany when they were young, so they had an exposure to the same milieu that Locke was visiting as a young adult. After getting a degree at Smith, Eunice Carter tried life as a writer and was among the young authors that Locke was promoting in the Harlem Renaissance activities. But she turned toward the law, while maintaining her life as one of the society ladies of Harlem. They knew many of the same people; the same names kept cropping up in both books. Both she and Locke valued a highly cultured life, being well respected, fine clothes. They avidly sought and worked connections. But both had a weakness dogging their careers: Locke was gay, Carter had a brother who was a Communist being tracked by the FBI. In fact, Locke was once questioned by the FBI about his participation in a suspect leftish organization: he had been recruited to serve on the board by Eunice Carter's Communist brother. These issues kept them always somewhat on the sidelines of where they really wanted to be, and thought they deserved to be.
The last connection is the new novel by Tope Folarin. Like Locke, Folarin was a Rhodes scholar, lived abroad for a time, and lives in Washington DC. In his book, Folarin writes about the disconnected life of a boy who is the child of a Nigerian immigrant, growing up in Utah and gradually realizing how estranged he is from his own identity. He struggles to integrate the Nigerian aspects of his home life with the African-American that others see if they just see his exterior. He turns to writing to try to understand what has happened to him. I think it shows how relevant Locke's wrestling with the connection between African roots and American culture, and this struggle as material for fine art, still is.
I gave this five stars because of the achievement relative to the goal of the author. It really is a phenomenal accomplishment both in terms of factual accumulation and ordering of Locke's life and context, and the analysis of his aesthetic and philosophical views over the course of his life.
I read it more to get a grounding in African American arts and their development during this period than to learn about Locke per se. I did get that, and it turned out to be a fascinating co-read with two other books (see below), but some skimming would have been in order if I"d had a hard copy. I listened to it. It's well read, but seems to exist in a strange corner of the physical universe; the longer I listened the more of it was left to listen to (it seemed). I was listening at 1.75x, but instead of lasting less than its stated 48 hours, it seemed to take 90 hours.
Locke was raised by his mother after the early death of his father. Both parents were middle class and emphasized education. He was very small and frail, and knew he was gay from an early age. Obviously this was problematic throughout his life, and Stewart uses it as the framework for his analysis. The problem is that he repeats himself on the topic endlessly, especially in the first two fifths of the book. Locke's psychological dependence on his mother lasted for decades. Eventually he emerged from this stage, but it was sad that he never had a lasting, satisfactory relationship.
But Locke was as aesthete from an early age, and very ambitious. He was the first black Rhodes scholar, and spent much of his early years in or trying to get back to Europe. He studied for a time in Germany, after Cambridge. In time he earned a PhD in philosophy from Harvard. At this point he was mainly engaged in the theory of value. He ended up teaching at Howard, although most of his life he was busily making a place for himself off campus as a speaker, writer, critic, curator, sponsor and advisor of young artists, publisher, gadfly, promoter of cultural resources, etc etc. He was in constant competition with W E B Dubois and others for leadership roles in these circles. In many ways he was his own worst enemy, first as a procrastinating student and later as a waspish, sometimes vindictive colleague. Much of his work was entangled with actual or hoped-for sexual/romantic relationships with writers and visual artists of the time.
I can't begin to summarize the full progression of Locke's philosophy of aesthetics or his ideas about the place of the black artist in the United States. Early on he emphasized the necessity for beauty, immersed in his European experiences, and denigrated 'propaganda' art about racial issues. Then he spent many years emphasizing the role of African art in European modern art and bringing African art to attention in America. He argued that the true achievements of American art emerged from the cultural traditions and artistic work of African Americans. This underlay his role in the Harlem Renaissance. Later, as the Great Depression and race riots brought home the conditions most blacks faced, and that he was somewhat insulated from, he became more radical and developed a value philosophy with a role for expressing political ideas as well as beauty.
I read this in concert with Invisible: The Forgotten story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen Carter and A Particular Kind of Black Man, the debut novel by Tope Folarin. Carter writes about his grandmother Eunice Carter, about 15 years younger than Locke, who worked for Dewey on his team of lawyers charged with fighting the Mafia in 1920s New York City. Eunice Carter researched and developed the strategy that finally corralled Lucky Luciano by linking him to organized prostitution. She went on to a career as a government prosecutor, a dogged campaigner in Republican politics, and a figure in international issues. But she never reached the heights she felt her early success justified.
Like Locke, she came from the black middle class, with parents active in YMCA organizing and education. Her mother took the children to live in Germany when they were young, so they had an exposure to the same milieu that Locke was visiting as a young adult. After getting a degree at Smith, Eunice Carter tried life as a writer and was among the young authors that Locke was promoting in the Harlem Renaissance activities. But she turned toward the law, while maintaining her life as one of the society ladies of Harlem. They knew many of the same people; the same names kept cropping up in both books. Both she and Locke valued a highly cultured life, being well respected, fine clothes. They avidly sought and worked connections. But both had a weakness dogging their careers: Locke was gay, Carter had a brother who was a Communist being tracked by the FBI. In fact, Locke was once questioned by the FBI about his participation in a suspect leftish organization: he had been recruited to serve on the board by Eunice Carter's Communist brother. These issues kept them always somewhat on the sidelines of where they really wanted to be, and thought they deserved to be.
The last connection is the new novel by Tope Folarin. Like Locke, Folarin was a Rhodes scholar, lived abroad for a time, and lives in Washington DC. In his book, Folarin writes about the disconnected life of a boy who is the child of a Nigerian immigrant, growing up in Utah and gradually realizing how estranged he is from his own identity. He struggles to integrate the Nigerian aspects of his home life with the African-American that others see if they just see his exterior. He turns to writing to try to understand what has happened to him. I think it shows how relevant Locke's wrestling with the connection between African roots and American culture, and this struggle as material for fine art, still is.
I gave this five stars because of the achievement relative to the goal of the author. It really is a phenomenal accomplishment both in terms of factual accumulation and ordering of Locke's life and context, and the analysis of his aesthetic and philosophical views over the course of his life.
February 17, 2022
Jeffrey Stewart won the Pulitzer Prize in 2019 in the Biography category for his book about Alain Locke. Alain Locke lived from 1885 to 1954 and was the first black Rhodes Scholar. He dedicated his adult life to promoting black history with a focus on the arts and later civil rights. There book is very detailed and long but worth the journey to learn about such an accomplished leader in our country's history. I give this book 4 stars.
January 21, 2019
I only knew a couple of things about Alain Locke before reading this so I found it pretty informative.
Among the things that struck me:
(1) How much life for African-American intellectuals changed from his formative years (the late 1800s) to when he became famous after the publication of "The New Negro" in the 1920s.
In his early years, he was obsessed with gaining acceptance from mainstream white society and actively avoided other African-Americans but by the end of his life in 1953, he was fully immersed in black culture and black aesthetics, which shows how much the world had changed for black intellectuals even BEFORE the civil rights movement.
(2) But on the other hand, it is painful to see how even someone of Locke's obvious gifts had very limited professional opportunities at the beginning of his career. It really makes me grateful to be born in the era in which I was, when the opportunities are incomparably greater for blacks, women, and others.
(3) It is clear that being a closeted gay man caused Locke significant emotional problems. I wonder how much happier he would have been if he was able to live his openly?
This is well researched somewhat academic biography. It goes in great detail into Locke's academic contributions but does not delve too much into his personal life. To be fair, it doesn't seem like he had that much of a personal life. At 878 pages, it's somewhat longer than most single volume biographies and probably more suited for the serious scholar than the casual reader, but the individual chapters are short and well written.
Among the things that struck me:
(1) How much life for African-American intellectuals changed from his formative years (the late 1800s) to when he became famous after the publication of "The New Negro" in the 1920s.
In his early years, he was obsessed with gaining acceptance from mainstream white society and actively avoided other African-Americans but by the end of his life in 1953, he was fully immersed in black culture and black aesthetics, which shows how much the world had changed for black intellectuals even BEFORE the civil rights movement.
(2) But on the other hand, it is painful to see how even someone of Locke's obvious gifts had very limited professional opportunities at the beginning of his career. It really makes me grateful to be born in the era in which I was, when the opportunities are incomparably greater for blacks, women, and others.
(3) It is clear that being a closeted gay man caused Locke significant emotional problems. I wonder how much happier he would have been if he was able to live his openly?
This is well researched somewhat academic biography. It goes in great detail into Locke's academic contributions but does not delve too much into his personal life. To be fair, it doesn't seem like he had that much of a personal life. At 878 pages, it's somewhat longer than most single volume biographies and probably more suited for the serious scholar than the casual reader, but the individual chapters are short and well written.
December 14, 2019
I have never heard of Alain Locke. And yet I had heard of several of the writers he mentored, such as Langston Hughes. I had heard of the research area his efforts intiated, Black Studies. And yet, it seems odd, given his personal views, his becoming a pioneer of Black is Beautiful, is almost an anomaly. Locke was a horrible snob and really didn't like Negroes. And yet, the work of his life was to begin the idea that Blacks are valuable and beautiful and intellilgent. As I look at the difference of how Blacks were taught to view themselves within overriding US White Culture at the turn of the 19th to 20th century, compared with expectations and opportunities today, there is no way to compare. Not there is not still a long way to go, but the difference is amazing.
But being Black was not his only challenge. Locke was also gay at a time when that was not acceptable at all. Stewart attempted to give the reader a sense of what it was like for Locke, seeking to be a leader while having to keep a critical part of his real self hidden. At times it seemed Stewart spent too much time on the gay aspect of Locke's life, giving some readers a sense of frustration and a desire to say "enough already; I get it. He was gay.". Yet, in retrospect, how else might Stewart have shared with us the frustration and irritation Locke felt.
But being Black was not his only challenge. Locke was also gay at a time when that was not acceptable at all. Stewart attempted to give the reader a sense of what it was like for Locke, seeking to be a leader while having to keep a critical part of his real self hidden. At times it seemed Stewart spent too much time on the gay aspect of Locke's life, giving some readers a sense of frustration and a desire to say "enough already; I get it. He was gay.". Yet, in retrospect, how else might Stewart have shared with us the frustration and irritation Locke felt.
November 14, 2021
I now subscribe to Nick Hornby’s idea that you have to be a Charles Dickens to deserve a 1000 page biography. If you wrote less than Dickens, or did less than Dickens, your biography should be correspondingly shorter. Of course, Locke was an important man, but I don’t think a 1000 page biography does him any favors. In fact, this lengthy, extremely well researched book (too well researched?) seems to emphasize the man’s lack of substantive writing. It’s so long you wonder why more isn’t happening (either in print or in life) to fill its many pages.
Recently, I also got bogged down in a 1000 page biography of Steinbeck, who must have published 100 times more books than Locke did, and I’d argue that that bio should also have been shortened. At any rate, I did finish the Locke biography, despite its length, and that probably says something. And certainly the book introduced me to many Harlem Renaissance authors and artists and poets I didn’t know previously. It also has many valuable things to say about the history of race and sexuality in America.
Recently, I also got bogged down in a 1000 page biography of Steinbeck, who must have published 100 times more books than Locke did, and I’d argue that that bio should also have been shortened. At any rate, I did finish the Locke biography, despite its length, and that probably says something. And certainly the book introduced me to many Harlem Renaissance authors and artists and poets I didn’t know previously. It also has many valuable things to say about the history of race and sexuality in America.
January 6, 2019
the most comprehensive biography i've ever read
April 24, 2020
I have long been curious about Locke and now comes along the definitive biography of this man which I highly recommend.
January 28, 2021
Phenomenal understanding of black intellectual foundation in America, black radical scholarship infusion into philosophy, art, literature, and black studies.
November 5, 2022
THis is a high quality biography that clearly took an incredible amount of archival work, but it is just too darn long. Locke was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance and in American thought and culture in the first half of the 20th century, but his contributions just don't justify almost 1000 pages of book. Stewart goes into minute detail on almost every part of his life, including several chapters on his vacations in Europe as a college students and endless detail on his love life. It isn't just the length but the fact that the length makes it hard to pick out what aspects of Locke's life were really important. So in that sense the length does a disservice to understanding Locke, although I obviously know a lot more about him now than beforehand.
Ok, that's the critique. Here are some big points about Locke. The bio does give you a great sense of Locke's character, and he was frankly pretty odd and not that likeable. Quirky, physically diminutive, obsessed with cleanliness and status, Locke was your intellectual's intellectual. I didn't like that he always had to put himself at the center of whatever intellectual/cultural moment that was happening; he seemed like the kind of guy always looking to write that Atlantic piece telling you what the mood is or coining some new term to capture the zeitgeist but ending up in shallow territory. He certainly engaged in lots of petty squabbling with other figures of the Harlem Ren.
Ok, I think my frustration with the book's length is distorting this review. Locke was brilliant in many ways. As the first black Rhodes scholar and a semi-closeted gay man, he was a strange mix of insider and outsider. He captured the spirit of the Harlem Ren in his New Negro essay. He argued that moving to nothern cities and living in black neighborhoods that mixed black people from all over the black diaspora had created both an explosion of unique culture and a new, more proud and defiant black attitude. While he was a truly transnational figure, Locke also saw black culture as a key part of American culture in general. He always fought to have black and African art included as art and not as anthropological curiosities, and he was pretty successful in pushing the art world in this direction. Unlike Dubois, who saw good art as propaganda for the cause of racial justice, Locke believed that black art/writing should be for its own sake as art/writing because he believed black people deserved these things too as full human beings. He believed that by creating great art/culture, black people would steadily win acceptance in the larger white population, although he questioned this idea more the older he got. He developed the idea, part of the Howard School of international relations, that the defining aspect of imperialism was a racial hierarchy and that conflicts like WWI were actually racial conflicts and competition over empire.
Locke's life tells you a lot about black and/or queer people in his time period. He died just days after Brown v Board, and it's hard to plug him into the integrationist/black nationalist debate. Born just after Reconstruction ended, I think he was part of a wave of black thinkers for whom racism and segregation were so deeply embedded in life that it was hard to think of a way out. Locke certainly never seemed to think it would end, but he also wasn't a Garveyite back to AFrica guy. What was interesting is that he and so many other white and black people didn't think of the United States as one people but really two peoples living parallel lives. He was a "race man" in the sense that he believed in representing and uplifting the race, but not necessarily challenging the color line, although he did that in some symbolic ways through his art criticism. It was also interesting to see Locke navigate white patronage. Without such patronage, much of his work wouldn't hav been posible, but the patronage came with a cost. One of his wealthiest patrons was fixated on black primitivism and wanted to showcase that in the art and drama she sponsored; Locke was incredibly deft at shifting her thinking and using her money for what would actually represent black art instead of a white stereotype of black art.
As for being gay, Locke was unable to sustain a lasting relationship, which was hard for gay people to do anyway. You couldn't be "out" although no one doubted that he was not straight. Locke ended up cruising for younger men a lot, but he wasn't very attractive and was actually a pretty tedious guy, prone to long monologues and a distant air. I felt bad for him without really liking his character, although it was fascinating to see the extent to which the Harlem Renaissance was driven by queer artists and writers.
It is hard to recommend this book given the length, but if you find these themes interesting it might be worth your time (I listened to it). If only this book had been edited to about half its length, it would be both fascinating and digestible.
Ok, that's the critique. Here are some big points about Locke. The bio does give you a great sense of Locke's character, and he was frankly pretty odd and not that likeable. Quirky, physically diminutive, obsessed with cleanliness and status, Locke was your intellectual's intellectual. I didn't like that he always had to put himself at the center of whatever intellectual/cultural moment that was happening; he seemed like the kind of guy always looking to write that Atlantic piece telling you what the mood is or coining some new term to capture the zeitgeist but ending up in shallow territory. He certainly engaged in lots of petty squabbling with other figures of the Harlem Ren.
Ok, I think my frustration with the book's length is distorting this review. Locke was brilliant in many ways. As the first black Rhodes scholar and a semi-closeted gay man, he was a strange mix of insider and outsider. He captured the spirit of the Harlem Ren in his New Negro essay. He argued that moving to nothern cities and living in black neighborhoods that mixed black people from all over the black diaspora had created both an explosion of unique culture and a new, more proud and defiant black attitude. While he was a truly transnational figure, Locke also saw black culture as a key part of American culture in general. He always fought to have black and African art included as art and not as anthropological curiosities, and he was pretty successful in pushing the art world in this direction. Unlike Dubois, who saw good art as propaganda for the cause of racial justice, Locke believed that black art/writing should be for its own sake as art/writing because he believed black people deserved these things too as full human beings. He believed that by creating great art/culture, black people would steadily win acceptance in the larger white population, although he questioned this idea more the older he got. He developed the idea, part of the Howard School of international relations, that the defining aspect of imperialism was a racial hierarchy and that conflicts like WWI were actually racial conflicts and competition over empire.
Locke's life tells you a lot about black and/or queer people in his time period. He died just days after Brown v Board, and it's hard to plug him into the integrationist/black nationalist debate. Born just after Reconstruction ended, I think he was part of a wave of black thinkers for whom racism and segregation were so deeply embedded in life that it was hard to think of a way out. Locke certainly never seemed to think it would end, but he also wasn't a Garveyite back to AFrica guy. What was interesting is that he and so many other white and black people didn't think of the United States as one people but really two peoples living parallel lives. He was a "race man" in the sense that he believed in representing and uplifting the race, but not necessarily challenging the color line, although he did that in some symbolic ways through his art criticism. It was also interesting to see Locke navigate white patronage. Without such patronage, much of his work wouldn't hav been posible, but the patronage came with a cost. One of his wealthiest patrons was fixated on black primitivism and wanted to showcase that in the art and drama she sponsored; Locke was incredibly deft at shifting her thinking and using her money for what would actually represent black art instead of a white stereotype of black art.
As for being gay, Locke was unable to sustain a lasting relationship, which was hard for gay people to do anyway. You couldn't be "out" although no one doubted that he was not straight. Locke ended up cruising for younger men a lot, but he wasn't very attractive and was actually a pretty tedious guy, prone to long monologues and a distant air. I felt bad for him without really liking his character, although it was fascinating to see the extent to which the Harlem Renaissance was driven by queer artists and writers.
It is hard to recommend this book given the length, but if you find these themes interesting it might be worth your time (I listened to it). If only this book had been edited to about half its length, it would be both fascinating and digestible.
June 13, 2019
#20BooksOfSummer
Finished: 13.06.2019
Genre: non-fiction
Rating: C
#AudioBook 45 hrs 34 min
Conclusion:
Winner Pulitzer Prize for Biography 2019
I agree with other readers
….this book is comprehensive and very detailed.
It is important to realize that there
…are different types of non-fiction:
literary non-fiction vs commercial non-fiction:
There’s a difference between the book as
cultural work of art and the book as entertainment
…in the same way that there’s a
difference between a classical symphony and a musical.
If you are looking for a high octane entertainment buzz…
you may be disappointed…as I was.
If you see this book as a glimpse into an area of progress
in the Harlem Renaissance…and all that has come out of
that movement...you will be delighted.
It depends on what you are looking for.
#DecideForYourself
Finished: 13.06.2019
Genre: non-fiction
Rating: C
#AudioBook 45 hrs 34 min
Conclusion:
Winner Pulitzer Prize for Biography 2019
I agree with other readers
….this book is comprehensive and very detailed.
It is important to realize that there
…are different types of non-fiction:
literary non-fiction vs commercial non-fiction:
There’s a difference between the book as
cultural work of art and the book as entertainment
…in the same way that there’s a
difference between a classical symphony and a musical.
If you are looking for a high octane entertainment buzz…
you may be disappointed…as I was.
If you see this book as a glimpse into an area of progress
in the Harlem Renaissance…and all that has come out of
that movement...you will be delighted.
It depends on what you are looking for.
#DecideForYourself
February 17, 2021
Portrait of a man pinioned between ushering in a radically new Black subjectivity and the realities of white patronage. Will he be credentialed, or not? Hired, or not? Fired, or not? Basically, will he be funded, or not. The first 400 pages or so Locke mostly just writes his mother for money, and the overall impression I'm left with is a man constrained in a web of purse strings, notable as much for his realized contributions as his thwarted ones
August 11, 2020
This book was 20% about the events of Alain Locke’s life. The other 80% was Jeffrey Stewart waxing academically about pretty much anything he wanted: poetry, philosophy, black history, art, etc. Locke was an interesting character, but there wasn’t enough of him in this book to make it a satisfying read.
November 24, 2019
Alain Locke is a name that even most educated African Americans don’t know. In the early twentieth century, he was the first African American Rhodes Scholar selected to study at Oxford. He pursued a career as a philosopher, received a PhD from Harvard, and taught at Howard University, the premier black institution in America. Most importantly, he helped spark the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and onward. He birthed the concept of the New Negro – that black people can reinvent themselves around the arts to play a meaningful role in American society.
Interestingly, he lived life as a closeted homosexual. His love life was marked with instability as he moved from one lover to another. He fed off the energy that his lovers provided to him, but he was about 80 years too soon for stable homosexual relationships. I ponder what kind of impact Locke might have in contemporary society with the dual-minority status as black and gay.
This book is a long book – 944 pages. Although Stewart deals with intellectual issues with care (as one should with a philosopher), I wonder whether a 600-page book (with tightened prose and a more rapid narrative) might have an even greater effect in the marketplace. But then again, this book did win the National Book Award, so Stewart can’t be too far off.
For me, this book provided an exposure to the pre-civil-rights lives of African Americans. Its focus is not on the American South (where I live), but on the urban North. Locke mainly aimed to provide inspiration of black voices in cities. Nonetheless, he lived in DC under segregated conditions. He never lived to see the freedoms of cultural integration. However, he did anticipate such movements and sought to promulgate its effect through art. This art tied back to Africa as its source and used African forms as its methodology. Like many a black intellectual, he was tired of judging success from the vantage point of the white European tradition.
Was Locke effective? When one considers the scope of the last 100 years of American history, one cannot help but say yes, Locke was effective. Black artistry – both in its refined sense and also in its popular sense – dominates the American cultural landscape. It resides in the mainstream of culture, and its sophistication has led to the acceptance of blacks into that mainstream. Stewart leaves us with the (correct) impression that Locke would be proud of the legacy he helped to leave for his country and his people.
Interestingly, he lived life as a closeted homosexual. His love life was marked with instability as he moved from one lover to another. He fed off the energy that his lovers provided to him, but he was about 80 years too soon for stable homosexual relationships. I ponder what kind of impact Locke might have in contemporary society with the dual-minority status as black and gay.
This book is a long book – 944 pages. Although Stewart deals with intellectual issues with care (as one should with a philosopher), I wonder whether a 600-page book (with tightened prose and a more rapid narrative) might have an even greater effect in the marketplace. But then again, this book did win the National Book Award, so Stewart can’t be too far off.
For me, this book provided an exposure to the pre-civil-rights lives of African Americans. Its focus is not on the American South (where I live), but on the urban North. Locke mainly aimed to provide inspiration of black voices in cities. Nonetheless, he lived in DC under segregated conditions. He never lived to see the freedoms of cultural integration. However, he did anticipate such movements and sought to promulgate its effect through art. This art tied back to Africa as its source and used African forms as its methodology. Like many a black intellectual, he was tired of judging success from the vantage point of the white European tradition.
Was Locke effective? When one considers the scope of the last 100 years of American history, one cannot help but say yes, Locke was effective. Black artistry – both in its refined sense and also in its popular sense – dominates the American cultural landscape. It resides in the mainstream of culture, and its sophistication has led to the acceptance of blacks into that mainstream. Stewart leaves us with the (correct) impression that Locke would be proud of the legacy he helped to leave for his country and his people.
March 28, 2020
“The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke” by Jeffrey C. Stewart tells a tale that few casual readers of Black History would recognize: Harvard’s first African-American Rhodes Scholar navigates a world that will not accept him, some because he is black, others because he is 4’11”, and others because he is gay. Both author Stewart and subject Alain Locke have a background in philosophy that could intimidate the casual reader over the span of 900 pages.
Once he transitions to the sociology of race during the Imperialism of World War I, we start to understand how Locke had such significance. While others were complaining about the Black struggle at the turn of the century, Locke was proposing solutions through education and cultural contributions. He qualified as an unlikely source, as a student of the arts who proposed that smart dress, constant learning, and artistic outlets as the next steps for the disenfranchised.
Locke develops a few conflicts along his path to creating a new image among members of his demographic and we recognize how often we assume that everyone involved had one vision. He did this with little complaining as he focused more on inward improvements among Black artists and almost never focused on the racism of others. We learn primarily about Harlem as the site of a Renaissance and realize how people assumed that a minority-majority area meant an impoverished/uneducated zone while this community strived to decimate that stereotype.
At 932 pages, you almost forget parts of Locke’s life and have to remind yourself that the writer is describing the same life, especially since his life and vocation defy any sort of simple explanation. Despite his professional and academic prowess, he still frequently made the rookie mistake of developing romantic feelings for artists in his New Negro movement and then making professional decisions based on those interests, often alienating those who did not reciprocate or preferred women in the first place.
From Rhodes Scholar to professor to promoter to critic, Locke has a lot of life to describe and Stewart does a formidable job at sparing no details. The vocabulary, admittedly, had me looking up a word here or there and the discourse on life as a college professor may appear to specialized for a casual reader but that will not make you stop. Stewart leaves us with a strong feeling of inspiration.
Once he transitions to the sociology of race during the Imperialism of World War I, we start to understand how Locke had such significance. While others were complaining about the Black struggle at the turn of the century, Locke was proposing solutions through education and cultural contributions. He qualified as an unlikely source, as a student of the arts who proposed that smart dress, constant learning, and artistic outlets as the next steps for the disenfranchised.
Locke develops a few conflicts along his path to creating a new image among members of his demographic and we recognize how often we assume that everyone involved had one vision. He did this with little complaining as he focused more on inward improvements among Black artists and almost never focused on the racism of others. We learn primarily about Harlem as the site of a Renaissance and realize how people assumed that a minority-majority area meant an impoverished/uneducated zone while this community strived to decimate that stereotype.
At 932 pages, you almost forget parts of Locke’s life and have to remind yourself that the writer is describing the same life, especially since his life and vocation defy any sort of simple explanation. Despite his professional and academic prowess, he still frequently made the rookie mistake of developing romantic feelings for artists in his New Negro movement and then making professional decisions based on those interests, often alienating those who did not reciprocate or preferred women in the first place.
From Rhodes Scholar to professor to promoter to critic, Locke has a lot of life to describe and Stewart does a formidable job at sparing no details. The vocabulary, admittedly, had me looking up a word here or there and the discourse on life as a college professor may appear to specialized for a casual reader but that will not make you stop. Stewart leaves us with a strong feeling of inspiration.
March 19, 2020
I can’t believe I read the whole thing! “The New Negro” is an exhausting (but well written) day by day (almost) biography of Alain Locke, who was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance. I had heard that Jeffrey Stewart wrote this as his PhD dissertation. I believe it for a number of reasons. The research and detail betrays a love for the subject, and 10,000 hours spent researching the book, mostly in the library. And I can see why. The diminutive Locke was quite a character. Black, dapper, gay, extremely intelligent, self-centered and prone to intellectual fights. He went to Harvard just after the turn of the last century, and was the first black Rhodes Scholar. His career, which you don’t get to until about page 400, bounces from a desire for sex, to a requirement (or desire) to find and please white matrons who could finance his studies and his annual trips to Europe, to intellectual squabbles and career peaks and valleys. His seminal essay The New Negro, helped launch a new black pride in artistic ventures, novels, plays, and ultimately visual art, while he flitted in his focus from genre to genre.
But although it is almost 900 pages (plus notes) it assumes a certain amount of knowledge and background about why Locke was so important. He seems to have written two or three important essays, befriended a number of important Black writers (most of whom were gay and several of whom he seemed to choose for their sexual rather than their literary allure). But at the end of the day — well, month — I don’t know a lot more about the Harlem Renaissance or why it was so important, and thus I don’t know why Locke was important, and I am not entirely convinced that he deserves the credit that Stewart gives him. I kept reading because he was such an interesting character but he was never compelling.
But although it is almost 900 pages (plus notes) it assumes a certain amount of knowledge and background about why Locke was so important. He seems to have written two or three important essays, befriended a number of important Black writers (most of whom were gay and several of whom he seemed to choose for their sexual rather than their literary allure). But at the end of the day — well, month — I don’t know a lot more about the Harlem Renaissance or why it was so important, and thus I don’t know why Locke was important, and I am not entirely convinced that he deserves the credit that Stewart gives him. I kept reading because he was such an interesting character but he was never compelling.
August 8, 2020
Intimate biography of an intersectional thinker
Before I read this book, the name Alain Locke was another obscure label on photographs and essays of the Black experience in America. After reading Jeffrey Stewart’s biography, I have a new insight into the evolution of thought on racism and culture in the 1920s. As science definitively disproved the biological basis of racism, Alain Locke was on the forefront of defining racism as a means of control. Furthermore he located true beauty in the cultural expression of black poets and artists who worked to create a truly uniquely American voice. His writing, lectures and patronage defined the voice of the New Negro in the Harlem Renaissance.
Yet he was a deeply flawed human being, with extensive mother issues and a knack for driving away those closest to him. Stewart does not shy away from the peculiarities that drove him, his difficult relationships with a Langston Hughes and Zora Neal Hurston, his sycophantic relationship with wealthy white patrons, a cavalcade of lovers and broken hearts, and his ultimate failure to bring pen to paper on the magnum opus that would seal his reputation.
Viewing the world through the eyes of a homosexual, black man. Locke was able to apply a dual lens to his analysis that found something unique that has carried forth to the study of African American culture to this day.
Before I read this book, the name Alain Locke was another obscure label on photographs and essays of the Black experience in America. After reading Jeffrey Stewart’s biography, I have a new insight into the evolution of thought on racism and culture in the 1920s. As science definitively disproved the biological basis of racism, Alain Locke was on the forefront of defining racism as a means of control. Furthermore he located true beauty in the cultural expression of black poets and artists who worked to create a truly uniquely American voice. His writing, lectures and patronage defined the voice of the New Negro in the Harlem Renaissance.
Yet he was a deeply flawed human being, with extensive mother issues and a knack for driving away those closest to him. Stewart does not shy away from the peculiarities that drove him, his difficult relationships with a Langston Hughes and Zora Neal Hurston, his sycophantic relationship with wealthy white patrons, a cavalcade of lovers and broken hearts, and his ultimate failure to bring pen to paper on the magnum opus that would seal his reputation.
Viewing the world through the eyes of a homosexual, black man. Locke was able to apply a dual lens to his analysis that found something unique that has carried forth to the study of African American culture to this day.
May 14, 2021
Well written and meticulously researched. Locke had a PhD in Philosophy and his biography is academic and dense, although not dry. Stewart does an excellent job of exploring all the complexities of Locke's life and his contributions to African American art and education.
May 30, 2019
I learned a lot reading this book but it was perhaps too thorough.
November 1, 2019
Boring overall
Although there were some sparks of light the book did not hold my attention for very long. Too much minute unnecessary details.
Although there were some sparks of light the book did not hold my attention for very long. Too much minute unnecessary details.
March 24, 2020
The New Negro by Jeffrey C. Stewart is a cross between Parting the Waters: Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement (1954–1963) by Taylor Branch and Our
Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class by Lawrence Otis Graham. Stewart’s book is comparable to Taylor’s in its size and the extensive details provided on the subject of the publication, Alain Locke. The back story, where the author presents the family history of
Locke, could be a chapter in Graham’s work. Moreover, Locke’s contributions to the development and promotion of African American art during the first part of the twentieth century should not be understated. However, after reading the book, I found a few points of contention. First, Locke was not the father of the Harlem Renaissance as the book claims. Second, the author minimizes the contributions of African Americans who came before Locke and introduced the idea of the “New Negro” while at the same time exalting Locke as an iconic example of the New Negro.
First, on page 10 of the book The New Negro: Reading on Race, Representation, and African American Culture, 1892–1938, by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Gene Andrew
Jarrett, the authors state, “Bowen’s ‘New Negro’ led directly to the Harlem Renaissance, for it was above all through literature that both ‘a racial personality’ and ‘the blaze of a new civilization’ manifested themselves.” Bowen’s New Negro tried to create a universal racial art. The authors were referring to J. W. E. Bowen’s writing in An Appeal to the King (1985). It is hard to determine who the father was of the Black Literary Renaissance that took place in Harlem during the 1920s, but if I had to choose a father of the movement, James Bowen would be the best candidate because he first proposed the ideas Alain Locke would purport thirty years later.
Moreover, in June 1895, an editorial appeared in the Cleveland Gazette that stated, “A class of colored people, the ‘New Negro,’ . . . have arisen since the War, with education, refinement, and money.” Thus, in reality, the African Americans had been “reconstructing” or transforming themselves into the New Negro ever since the first slaves landed in Virginia, as chronicled in Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s, book. Moreover, Dr. Gates further explains that the New Negro” had been around for at least a generation before “Alain Locke’s appropriation of the name in 1925 for his literary movement.” Sadly, in the chapter “Looking for Love and Finding The New Negro,” Stewart does not even spend a page discussing the history of the New Negro, glossing over facts that are well developed in Dr. Gates’s book on the subject. In doing so, Stewart gives the impression that those who had explored the idea of the New Negro before Locke were insignificant, when, in fact, he had only regifted a transcendence of the Negro that had already occurred.
Furthermore, the author spends a fair amount of time delving into the personal relationships of Alain Locke. Although they were interesting, I believe some of the details presented are more speculative than fact. For example, on page 442 of The New Negro, Stewart states that Hughes got tired of “Locke talking, always talking,” and as he recalled some sixteen years later in his autobiography, The Big Sea, “began to wonder if there were no back alleys in Venice and nor people and no slums.” Because I had read The Big Sea, I became curious about what Hughes said about his relationship with Locke. So I picked up a copy of the book and reread what Langston Hughes said about the man. On page 189 of The Big Sea, Hughes continues the previously quoted sentence by adding, “. . . no back alleys in Venice and nor people and no slums and nothing that looked like the districts down by the markets in Woodland Avenue in Cleveland, where the American Italians lived.” The famous poet mentions he is tired of visiting the museums and wanted to see other sites, but there is no mention on that page or in the book that he is tired of Locke talking. Thus, Steward seems to be speculating, as least some, to what Langton said in The Big Sea. Moreover, Langton Hughes’s description of Locke in The Big Sea is so bland it is hard to believe Hughes was every attracted to Locke, which contradicts Stewart’s assertion in The New Negro.
Alain Locke was a paragon of the New Negro that had been evolving over the centuries in America; he was the first African American Rhodes Scholar and earned a doctorate from Harvard University in philosophy. However, I think Jeffery Stewart tries to give Locke a badge he did not earn: the creator of the New Negro. Dr. Alain Locke certainly made the term popular in the 1920s with his anthology, The New Negro: An Interpretation. Yet, as Louis Henry Gates documents in his book, the idea of the New Negro had been around for quite some time before Locke’s publication. In 1675, Sir Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” It is Stewart’s failure to adequately acknowledge that Locke “stood on the shoulders of giants” that gives readers the false impression that the New Negro started with Alain Locke.
Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class by Lawrence Otis Graham. Stewart’s book is comparable to Taylor’s in its size and the extensive details provided on the subject of the publication, Alain Locke. The back story, where the author presents the family history of
Locke, could be a chapter in Graham’s work. Moreover, Locke’s contributions to the development and promotion of African American art during the first part of the twentieth century should not be understated. However, after reading the book, I found a few points of contention. First, Locke was not the father of the Harlem Renaissance as the book claims. Second, the author minimizes the contributions of African Americans who came before Locke and introduced the idea of the “New Negro” while at the same time exalting Locke as an iconic example of the New Negro.
First, on page 10 of the book The New Negro: Reading on Race, Representation, and African American Culture, 1892–1938, by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Gene Andrew
Jarrett, the authors state, “Bowen’s ‘New Negro’ led directly to the Harlem Renaissance, for it was above all through literature that both ‘a racial personality’ and ‘the blaze of a new civilization’ manifested themselves.” Bowen’s New Negro tried to create a universal racial art. The authors were referring to J. W. E. Bowen’s writing in An Appeal to the King (1985). It is hard to determine who the father was of the Black Literary Renaissance that took place in Harlem during the 1920s, but if I had to choose a father of the movement, James Bowen would be the best candidate because he first proposed the ideas Alain Locke would purport thirty years later.
Moreover, in June 1895, an editorial appeared in the Cleveland Gazette that stated, “A class of colored people, the ‘New Negro,’ . . . have arisen since the War, with education, refinement, and money.” Thus, in reality, the African Americans had been “reconstructing” or transforming themselves into the New Negro ever since the first slaves landed in Virginia, as chronicled in Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s, book. Moreover, Dr. Gates further explains that the New Negro” had been around for at least a generation before “Alain Locke’s appropriation of the name in 1925 for his literary movement.” Sadly, in the chapter “Looking for Love and Finding The New Negro,” Stewart does not even spend a page discussing the history of the New Negro, glossing over facts that are well developed in Dr. Gates’s book on the subject. In doing so, Stewart gives the impression that those who had explored the idea of the New Negro before Locke were insignificant, when, in fact, he had only regifted a transcendence of the Negro that had already occurred.
Furthermore, the author spends a fair amount of time delving into the personal relationships of Alain Locke. Although they were interesting, I believe some of the details presented are more speculative than fact. For example, on page 442 of The New Negro, Stewart states that Hughes got tired of “Locke talking, always talking,” and as he recalled some sixteen years later in his autobiography, The Big Sea, “began to wonder if there were no back alleys in Venice and nor people and no slums.” Because I had read The Big Sea, I became curious about what Hughes said about his relationship with Locke. So I picked up a copy of the book and reread what Langston Hughes said about the man. On page 189 of The Big Sea, Hughes continues the previously quoted sentence by adding, “. . . no back alleys in Venice and nor people and no slums and nothing that looked like the districts down by the markets in Woodland Avenue in Cleveland, where the American Italians lived.” The famous poet mentions he is tired of visiting the museums and wanted to see other sites, but there is no mention on that page or in the book that he is tired of Locke talking. Thus, Steward seems to be speculating, as least some, to what Langton said in The Big Sea. Moreover, Langton Hughes’s description of Locke in The Big Sea is so bland it is hard to believe Hughes was every attracted to Locke, which contradicts Stewart’s assertion in The New Negro.
Alain Locke was a paragon of the New Negro that had been evolving over the centuries in America; he was the first African American Rhodes Scholar and earned a doctorate from Harvard University in philosophy. However, I think Jeffery Stewart tries to give Locke a badge he did not earn: the creator of the New Negro. Dr. Alain Locke certainly made the term popular in the 1920s with his anthology, The New Negro: An Interpretation. Yet, as Louis Henry Gates documents in his book, the idea of the New Negro had been around for quite some time before Locke’s publication. In 1675, Sir Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” It is Stewart’s failure to adequately acknowledge that Locke “stood on the shoulders of giants” that gives readers the false impression that the New Negro started with Alain Locke.
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