Alain L. Locke: The Biography of a PhilosopherAlain L. Locke (1886-1954), in his famous 1925 anthology TheNew Negro, declared that “the pulse of the Negro world has begun to beat in Harlem.” Often called the father of the Harlem Renaissance, Locke had his finger directly on that pulse, promoting, influencing, and sparring with such figures as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Jacob Lawrence, Richmond Barthé, William Grant Still, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ralph Bunche, and John Dewey. The long-awaited first biography of this extraordinarily gifted philosopher and writer, Alain L. Locke narrates the untold story of his profound impact on twentieth-century America’s cultural and intellectual life. Leonard Harris and Charles Molesworth trace this story through Locke’s Philadelphia upbringing, his undergraduate years at Harvard—where William James helped spark his influential engagement with pragmatism—and his tenure as the first African American Rhodes Scholar. The heart of their narrative illuminates Locke’s heady years in 1920s New York City and his forty-year career at Howard University, where he helped spearhead the adult education movement of the 1930s and wrote on topics ranging from the philosophy of value to the theory of democracy. Harris and Molesworth show that throughout this illustrious career—despite a formal manner that many observers interpreted as elitist or distant—Locke remained a warm and effective teacher and mentor, as well as a fierce champion of literature and art as means of breaking down barriers between communities. The multifaceted portrait that emerges from this engaging account effectively reclaims Locke’s rightful place in the pantheon of America’s most important minds. |
From inside the book
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Page 3
... tradition and the individual talent, as T. S. Eliot's famous essay phrased it. (Locke wrote on this latter subject while a student at Harvard, shortly before Eliot started his education there.) He appreciated the paradox in modern ...
... tradition and the individual talent, as T. S. Eliot's famous essay phrased it. (Locke wrote on this latter subject while a student at Harvard, shortly before Eliot started his education there.) He appreciated the paradox in modern ...
Page 6
... tradition had it that he had attended Cambridge University, although there is no evidence of his matriculation. After starting his career as a teacher in Salem, and after a brief stay in England, he went to Liberia, where he spent four ...
... tradition had it that he had attended Cambridge University, although there is no evidence of his matriculation. After starting his career as a teacher in Salem, and after a brief stay in England, he went to Liberia, where he spent four ...
Page 9
... traditions of African American history and culture. Ancestry was animated by language and thought.7 The essay begins by talking quite bluntly about slavery, choosing not to gloss over or sidestep the brutality of this degrading system ...
... traditions of African American history and culture. Ancestry was animated by language and thought.7 The essay begins by talking quite bluntly about slavery, choosing not to gloss over or sidestep the brutality of this degrading system ...
Page 10
... traditional in its invocation of American patriotism. But such ambiguity will echo in Locke's own writing about the place of African Americans in the “larger” national identity of America. Contemporary records of Locke's earliest years ...
... traditional in its invocation of American patriotism. But such ambiguity will echo in Locke's own writing about the place of African Americans in the “larger” national identity of America. Contemporary records of Locke's earliest years ...
Page 12
... tradition, their bulwark against proscription and prejudice.” This sense of defensiveness woven into self-respect and pride, even if it sometimes took on a “frantic” cast, was evident in the letters between Locke and his mother that ...
... tradition, their bulwark against proscription and prejudice.” This sense of defensiveness woven into self-respect and pride, even if it sometimes took on a “frantic” cast, was evident in the letters between Locke and his mother that ...
Contents
1 | |
5 | |
28 | |
3 Oxford and Berlin | 59 |
The Early Years | 107 |
5 Howard and Beyond | 142 |
6 The Renaissance and the New Negro | 179 |
7 After The New Negro | 218 |
Sahdji to the Bronze Booklets | 251 |
9 The Educator at Work and at Large | 285 |
10 Theorizing Democracy | 328 |
11 The Final Years | 358 |
12 Lockes Legacy | 381 |
Notes | 391 |
Index | 419 |
Other editions - View all
Alain L. Locke: The Biography of a Philosopher Leonard Harris,Charles Molesworth No preview available - 2010 |
Alain L. Locke: The Biography of a Philosopher Leonard Harris,Charles Molesworth No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
academic African American African art Alain Locke ALPHU appeared argued argument artistic attitude Berlin Bois’s called Claude McKay College color Cosmopolitan criticism Cullen cultural decades democracy Dickerman early especially essay esthetic eventually experience expression Fauset friends friendship Harlem Renaissance Harvard Howard University Hughes Hughes’s Hurston idea intellectual interest issue Johnson journal Kallen Kellogg Kelly Miller Langston Langston Hughes later lectures letter literary literature Locke felt Locke wrote Locke’s Mary Locke Mason McKay McKay’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center mother Negro art novel one’s Oxford Philadelphia philosophy poems poet poetry political problem published question race racial racism Rhodes Rhodes Scholarship role Sahdji Schomburg School Seme sense social story Survey Graphic talent theory thought tion told Locke took Toomer tradition value theory values Vechten views W. E. B. Du Bois Washington writing year-end reviews York