First published in 1925, “The New Negro” is Alain Locke’s compilation of important works by early twentieth-century African American writers. Exhibiting the brilliance of early twentieth-century African American writers, “The New Negro” has been cited as one of the most important texts in the Harlem Renaissance movement. This collection includes nonfiction essays, poetry, and fiction by prominent African American writers and in its totality provides a literary rebuttal of the claims that African Americans were inferior to their white contemporaries. Throughout the compilation there is an examination of the changing roles and identity of African Americans not only in artistic life but in society more broadly speaking. In these works we find an important examination of the history of African Americans and a forceful advocacy for the expansion of civil rights and for challenging the negative racial stereotypes that have plagued the African American community. Works by such prominent writers as Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, and Jean Toomer are included in this volume. With illustrations and designs by Winold Reiss, “The New Negro” represents a landmark work in the Harlem Renaissance movement.
