In 2016, Charles Barkley marked Black History Month with a daily spotlight on local African-American heroes. Many of them didn’t make it into the history books or even the newspapers of their time. But their stories are inspiring and worth knowing. Here’s another look.
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Alain Leroy Locke
Writer, ‘Dean’ of Harlem Renaissance
Alain Leroy Locke
Writer, ‘Dean’ of Harlem Renaissance
(September 13, 1885 – June 9, 1954)
A writer and philosopher, Alain Leroy Locke is considered the philosophical architect of the Harlem Renaissance, a less widely known—but no less important—figure than stars Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes.
The first African American Rhodes Scholar (and last to be selected until 1960), Locke graduated from Central High School and then Harvard University.
Despite his talents, even in England Locke faced adversity.
Gay and black, he was rejected from many schools once he arrived at Oxford University because of his race, and had trouble finding work once he returned home.
But he triumphed, teaching and leading at Howard University for 42 years.
Sixty years after his death, in 2013, his ashes were buried in the Congressional Cemetery, where his tombstone reads: “1885–1954 Herald of the Harlem Renaissance Exponent of Cultural Pluralism”.
EDUCATION:
- Harvard University, B.A. 1907
- Rhodes Scholar at University of Berlin and Hertford College, 1907-1911
- Harvard University, Ph.D 1918
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
- As guest editor for a periodical called Survey Graphic in 1925, Locke expanded the issue to create a collection of writings from African Americans titled The New Negro, which is now credited as the “first national book” of African America
- Elementary schools are named after him in New York, Los Angeles, Indiana, Chicago and West Philadelphia
- Locke Hall at Howard University named after him
Professor at Howard University who encouraged students to look to Africa for inspiration of their works - Recipient of prestigious Bowdoin prize from Phi Beta Kappa fraternity
FINAL WORD: In March 1986, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “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.”
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
