"Alain Leroy Locke"(September 13,1885-June 9,1954)

Was an American writer,philosopher,educator,and patron of the arts.In a popular

publication The Black 100,he ranks as the 36th most influential African-American ever,past or present.Distinguished as the first African-American Rhodes Scholar in 1907,Alain was the philosophical architect-the acknowledged "Dean"- of Harlem Renaissance,and a period of cultural efflorescence connected with the "New Negro"movement from 1919-1934.His importance as the ideological genius of the Harlem Renaissance is one of great historic moment,immortalized in the Harlem Number of The Survey Graphic 6.6 (March 1 1925),a special issue on race for which Alain subsequently recast as an anthology,The New Negro:An interpretation of Negro Life,published in December 1925.A landmark in black literature (later acclaimed as the "first national book"of African American),it was an instant success.Alain contributed five essays:the "foreword," "The New Negro," "Negro Youth Speaks," "The Negro Spirituals,"and "The Legacy of Ancestral Arts."On March 19,1968,the Rev.Martin Luther King,Jr.,proclaimed:"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.Alain was born in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania to Pliny Ishmael Locke (1850-1892) and Mark Hawkins Locke.In 1902,he graduated from Central High School in Philadelphia,second in his class.He also attended Philadelphia School of Pedagogy.In 1907,Alain graduated from Harvard University with degrees in English and Philosophy.He was the first African-American Rhodes Scholar.Alain formed part of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.He was denied admission to several Oxford colleges because of his race before finally being admitted to Hertford College where he studied literature,philosophy,Greek and Latin,from 1907-1910,he attended the University of Berlin,where he studied philosophy.Alain received an assistant professorship in English at Howard University,in Washington D.C.While at Howard  he became a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.Alain returned to Harvard in 1916 to work on doctoral dissertation,The Problem of Classification in the Theory of Value.In his thesis,he discusses the causes of opinions and social biases,and that these are not objectively true or false,and therefore not universal.He receive his PhD in philosophy in 1918.Alain returned to Howard as the chair of the department of philosophy,a position he held until his retirement in 1953.He promoted African-American artists,writers,and musicians,encouraging them to look to Africa as an inspiration for their works.Alain encouraged them to depict African and African-American subjects,and to draw on their history for subject material.He edited the March 1925 issue of the periodical Survey Graphic,a special on Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance,which helped educate white readers about its flourishing culture.Later that year,he expanded the issue into The New Negro,a collection of writings by African Americans,which would become one of his best known work.His philosophy of the New Negro was grounded in the concept of race building.Its most important component is overall awareness of the potential black equality;no would blacks allow themselves to adjust themselves or comply with unreasonable white requests.This idea was based on self-confidence and political awareness.In the past the laws regarding equality had been ignored without consequence,Alain's philosophical idea of The New Negro allowed from fair treatment.Because this an idea and not alaw,its power was held in the people.If they wanted this idea to flourish,they were the ones who would need to "enforce"it through their actions and overall points of view.He was said to have greatly influenced and encouraged Zora Neale Hurtson. Alain was not open about being gay,his sexuality contributed to his aesthetic sensibility.