New Negro, Hardcover/Alain Locke

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