Sigma news brought to you WEEKLY! |
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BROTHER ALAIN LEROY LOCKE |
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Philosopher, Journalist, Educator & Scholar (1885 - 1954)
'FATHER OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE'
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Brother Alain LeRoy Locke was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into a prominent family of free blacks. A gifted student, he graduated from Philadelphia's Central High School second in his class in 1902. He attended the Philadelphia School of Pedagogy before matriculating at Harvard University. He was as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and recipient of the prestigious Bowdoin prize. Bro. Locke graduated in 1907 with degrees in both literature and philosophy and became the first Black to earn a PhD in Philosophy from Harvard.
Selected as the first African American Rhodes Scholar, he studied abroad at Hertford College, and the University of Berlin. In 1912 Locke received an assistant professorship in English at Howard University. At HU, he joined our wondrous band!
Bro. Locke returned to Harvard to complete his graduate studies, then returned to Howard as chair of the school's Department of Philosophy - position that he would hold until his retirement in 1953.
But it is his work with African American artists and writers that continues to be celebrated to this day. Bro. Locke believed that the cultural arts were the key to Black liberation. "Educator and author Booker T. Washington was instrumental in coining the term, ‘New Negro’ in the early 1900s. The term represented the spirit of black self-awareness, artistic consciousness and racial pride and was reflected in art, print, photography and film. But it was Bro. Locke, who published it in an anthology."
His 1925 The New Negro: An Interpretation, was a collection of fiction, poetry, and essays on African and African-American art. It featured his title essay, “The New Negro,” and works by writers including Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Claude McKay. Locke goaded the ‘New Negro’ to demand civil rights through artistic excellence versus political protest and replace old stereotypes with a new vision of black identity. This school of thought gave shape to the Harlem Renaissance.
In his published pieces on the Harlem Renaissance, he communicated the energy and potential of Harlem culture to a wide audience of both Black and white readers. For his part in developing the movement, Bro. Locke has been dubbed the "Father of the Harlem Renaissance."
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Bro. Locke was the guest editor of the March 1925 issue of the periodical Survey Graphic, for a special edition titled "Harlem, Mecca of the New Negro" about Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance, which helped educate white readers about its flourishing culture.
In December of that year, he expanded the issue into The New Negro, a collection of writings by him and other African Americans, which would become one of his best-known works.
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"We're going to let our children know that the only philosophers that lived were not Plato and Aristotle, but W. E. B. Du Bois and Alain Locke came through the universe."
-Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., March 19, 1968
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"Locke was a self-organized cultural producer. He mined the Black experience and turned it into high art. He brought the interpretive context for Black artists to be appreciated for the very first time."
-Jeffrey Stewart
Author of The New Negro, The Life of Alain Locke
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Ossie Davis on Bro. Locke's influence
Davis was a student in Bro. Locke's philosophy class
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HBO to debut Black Art documentary on FEB 9th.
Click the video for trailer and for LIVE stream link
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A VIRTUAL conference for Middle & High School and SBC members - jam packed with engaging & interactive workshops on college & career planning, financial literacy, robotics & STEM, cultural competency, social justice reform & advocacy, and mindfulness & meditation. These workshops will be facilitated by some of the most engaging youth empowerment facilitators in the country! We are looking to register at least 400 SBC Members from all 7 regions! Workshop descriptions and registration details will be released on Monday, February 8th. For questions reach out to Bro. Jenabu C. Williams, International Director of Sigma Beta Club at SBClub@phibetasigma1914.org.
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Do you have news, exciting information or events which you want to share with the brothers in our Weekly Update?
Please send items of interest, along with a high quality picture to Janel St. John at communications@phibetasigma1914.org, no later than Monday of each week for consideration. Be sure the include "BCM Submission" in the subject line.
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