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
Page 8
... school learning ... in order to prepare, fit and qualify them to act as teachers.” Though Du Bois's tables show that this school and others like it produced graduates who worked in a variety of professions, most of them were teachers ...
... school learning ... in order to prepare, fit and qualify them to act as teachers.” Though Du Bois's tables show that this school and others like it produced graduates who worked in a variety of professions, most of them were teachers ...
Page 9
... school for most of her life and traveled with Locke to Europe in the years just after his stay in Oxford. Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. race, and even conveys some of the tone, and range of references, that Locke was to use many ...
... school for most of her life and traveled with Locke to Europe in the years just after his stay in Oxford. Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. race, and even conveys some of the tone, and range of references, that Locke was to use many ...
Page 10
... school days exist for his high school years, but otherwise the only glimpses are erratic, and some of them come from his later reminiscences. One particularly intriguing example is in an undated letter he wrote to his mother while he ...
... school days exist for his high school years, but otherwise the only glimpses are erratic, and some of them come from his later reminiscences. One particularly intriguing example is in an undated letter he wrote to his mother while he ...
Page 11
... school project, or it may have been an exercise of family pride—an exploration of the earlier days of Philadelphia's educated black community. He remembered the activity fondly, and the resultant sense of ancestral history would always ...
... school project, or it may have been an exercise of family pride—an exploration of the earlier days of Philadelphia's educated black community. He remembered the activity fondly, and the resultant sense of ancestral history would always ...
Page 14
... school for his early training, and in anticipation of this each night would see to it that the boy's clothes were inspected and arranged on a chair beside his bed. All part of a nightly ritual, this routine no doubt reflected a very ...
... school for his early training, and in anticipation of this each night would see to it that the boy's clothes were inspected and arranged on a chair beside his bed. All part of a nightly ritual, this routine no doubt reflected a very ...
Contents
1 | |
5 | |
2 Harvard | 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