Criticism In The New Negro, By Alain Locke

“The New Negro” written by Alain Locke focused on self-expression of the black community. The title speaks for itself meaning “a new type of negro” or black person. In the north during the Harlem Renaissance, black people were becoming independent. They started branching off making their own art, music, and poetry, and opening their own businesses and forming their own new communities. It was a new negro as opposed to the old negro; a black man with a slave mentality. Now, black men viewed himself as inferior, the black man who doesn’t think for himself. The black man was now reading, the black man was writing as opposed for the old negro these things were against the law. The 1920s was a decade for creativity for black Americans that were living in New York city, particularly Harlem. Here Harlem became the race capital. Essentially, “on one hand, there emerged a new generation of black thinkers who were attracted by the promise of socialism” (Locke 929). The thinking Negro, has been encouraged to share a general attitude and focus his attention or controversial issues, to see himself as a view of a social problem.

“The New Negro” brings negroes from the south together with Negros from the north after the beginning of the World War. “So, what began in terms of segregation becomes more and more, as its

The delicacy of this was called for less charity, less help and more justice to gain an understanding. In this time the renaissance had caused a shift with the black community. They were now able to inspire one another, as they developed a new beginning of expressionism within the black community. However, Locke notes that “this new phase is delicate; it will call for less charity more justice; less help, but infinitely closer understanding” (Locke 978). He states this because he knows the race relationship is not understood, but a there can be more prejudgment to