Alain LeRoy Locke

Alain LeRoy Locke was an American philosopher, writer, educator, and literary critic whose work helped define the cultural meaning of the Harlem Renaissance. His 1925 anthology, *The New Negro*, brought together Black poetry, fiction, essays, music, and visual art while advancing a modern Black aesthetic. Locke also developed influential ideas about cultural pluralism, race, value, and artistic self-expression, and taught philosophy at Howard University for much of his career.