Alain Locke’s Contradictory Harlem RenaissanceThe Discrepancy in Locke’s New Negro Philosophy

BA Thesis Language and Culture StudiesTaal- en Cultuurstudies

Utrecht University

Sanne Van de Voort3989550

Dr. Derek RubinDepartment of English Language and Culture

5960 words

29 January 2016

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Table of Contents

Introduction.......................................................................................................................................4

Section 1: Culture according to Locke................................................................................................9

Conclusion of section 1.................................................................................................................16

Section 2: Locke and Music..............................................................................................................18

Conclusion of section 2.................................................................................................................24

Conclusion........................................................................................................................................26

Works Cited......................................................................................................................................28

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Introduction

Let the blare of Negro jazz bands and the bellowing voice of Bessie Smith singing the

Blues penetrate the closed ears of the colored near intellectuals until they listen and

perhaps understand. Let [them] cause the smug Negro middle class to turn from their

white, respectable, ordinary books and papers to catch a glimmer of their own beauty.

We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned

selves without fear or shame. (Hughes, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”)

This passage from Langston Hughes’ essay “The Negro Artist and the Racial

Mountain” illustrates the aesthetical debate that was going on between two generations of

intellectuals and artists of the Harlem Renaissance. This was a cultural movement within the

African-American society, roughly taking place in the 1920s and 1930s, with its center in

Harlem, the African-American neighborhood in New York City. Hughes (1902-1967) was part

of the younger generation, who had different ideas about the movement than the older

generation of intellectuals. As the passage indicates, Hughes criticized the African-American

intellectual middle class for multiple reasons. Firstly, he accused the middle class scholars of

turning too much to white standards of beauty, instead of to the beauty of the own African-

American artists. Secondly, he criticized the middle class for ignoring African-American folk

music such as jazz and blues.

One of the older generation of intellectuals in the African-American community was

Alain Locke (1885-1954). His contemporary, the well-known American philosopher Horace

M. Kallen, described Locke as one of the “philosophical midwives” of this cultural movement

in the African-American community (125). Not only Locke’s contemporaries recognized his

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influence in the formation of the movement as crucial. In subsequent scholarship on the

Harlem Renaissance Locke’s role in the Harlem Renaissance has been valued as defining.

With his publication of an anthology of essays The New Negro (1925), Locke was one of the

first to articulate a “black aesthetics” (Napier 96). Historian and cultural critic Henry Louis

Gates Jr. sees Locke’s publication of The New Negro in 1925 as a turning point in New Negro

discourse (Gates 136). Locke’s anthology changed the focus of New Negro ideals to culture

instead of political radicalism (Gates 135). According to Locke’s biographer Leonard Harris,

the anthology became “the standard-bearer for the Harlem Renaissance” (6). In scholarship,

Locke had a defining role in the Harlem Renaissance.

In his essay “The New Negro”, the opening essay of his anthology, Locke defined the

goals of the Harlem Renaissance and his views on how they should be reached. He described

his philosophy for the movement as “an attempt to repair a damaged group psychology and

reshape a warped social perspective” (The New Negro 10). He argued that to realize this

objective, a new mentality was necessary. This mentality would be formed in a psychological

process, where initially more positive self-respect and self-reliance would be developed. This

would ultimately lead “from social disillusionment to race pride, from the sense of social

debt to the responsibilities of social contribution, and offsetting the necessary working and

commonsense acceptance of restricted condition, the belief in ultimate esteem and

recognition” (The New Negro 10). This ultimate goal of the Harlem Renaissance seems to be

inclusive of all African-Americans. However, Locke’s view on culture and music in particular

influenced the practical implementation of these goals.

Locke believed that a revaluation of the Negro “in terms of his artistic endowments

and cultural contributions, not only in his folk-art, music especially, which has always found

appreciation, but in larger, though humbler and less acknowledged ways” by both African-

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Americans and white Americans would attribute to the success of these goals (The New

Negro 15). Spirituals, dance and jazz music are discussed in the six essays devoted to music,

but blues music remains absent. Locke clearly sees the importance of folk-art and especially

folk music. Interestingly enough, he does not include blues music in his anthology or ideas

about the Harlem Renaissance. Why does he focus his analysis of African-American folk

music solely on spirituals and jazz? In this paper, I will argue that there is a discrepancy

between Locke’s goals for the Harlem Renaissance and his view for their implementation. On

the one hand, his goals for the New Negro are meant to be realized for every African-

American. On the other hand, Locke’s view on culture and those who should produce it is

elitist. This discrepancy will be discussed in two respects. In the first section Locke’s general

view on culture will be discussed, since Locke believed culture was the way to create the

New Negro. In the second section, Locke’s view on music will be analyzed more deeply. This

is especially interesting because Locke chose to ignore the blues in his view for the Harlem

Renaissance, while his contemporaries of a younger generation such as Langston Hughes did

want to include it in the Harlem Renaissance. The aesthetical debate between Locke and

Hughes will be used to illustrate the discrepancy in Locke’s thinking.

Before turning to Hughes’ and Locke’s views on the blues and the Harlem

Renaissance, it is important to know how music as part of the Harlem Renaissance has been

discussed by scholars. Martin Blum was one of the first scholars to write about the role of

music in the Harlem Renaissance in his essay, “Black Music: Pathmaker of the Harlem

Renaissance” published in 1974, but like Alain Locke, he fails to mention the role of blues

music. He stated that black music was a catalyst, contributor and beneficiary of the

movement (Blum 74). However, he only mentioned this in relation to jazz music and concert

music by African-American composers. In the scholarship that followed Blum’s publication,

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the analyses of the role of music in the Harlem Renaissance had the same focus. Two of the

most renowned works on the Harlem Renaissance are David Levering Lewis’ When Harlem

Was In Vogue (1981) and Nathan Irvin Huggins’ Harlem Renaissance (1971). Both writers

highlight the popularity of blues music in the New York entertainment business, but they fail

to discuss the contribution blues music made to attaining the goals of the movement. Both

Higgins and Lewis use the blues to define the Harlem Renaissance as a movement of the

African-American elite that did not recognize the value of popular African-American music.

As Huggins puts it, “[m]any of Harlem’s upstanding citizens did not see jazz and the blues as

valuable expressions of their culture, and some saw the forms as detrimental to black

progress” (xxx). Huggins further states that “most Harlem intellectuals aspired to high

culture as opposed to that of the common man, which they hoped to mine for novels,

poems, plays and symphonies” (5). In other words, they wanted to transform black folk

culture into a higher culture. African-American folk music such as the blues would become

part of this transformed higher culture. The younger generation of Harlem Renaissance

intellectuals that did want to include blues into the movement is deemed irrelevant by these

scholars; they did not have much influence in defining the scholarly perception of the

movement. Locke’s influence on the scholarly understanding of the Harlem Renaissance can

therefore be seen as significant.

As one of the key figures associated with the Harlem Renaissance, Alain Locke has

been criticized for his elitism. In his introduction to the 1997 edition of The New Negro,

Arnold Rampersad states that Locke chose to ignore the tremendous popularity of the blues

music in the New York entertainment scene, as well as the role of blues music in the works

of Harlem Renaissance artists such as Hughes. According to Rampersad, this has to do with

Locke’s elitist vision of culture (The New Negro xix). Similarly to Huggins and Lewis,

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Rampersad makes a statement about the elitist vision of culture and the Harlem Renaissance

that the intellectuals had. However, he fails to elaborate on this statement in his

introduction. According to these scholars, the Harlem Renaissance was a movement that

was simply elitist. However, there was significant criticism of this elitist nature of the

movement by other Harlem Renaissance intellectuals such as Langston Hughes. He did

believe that folk music such as the blues could contribute. In this paper, I will elaborate on

the reasons why blues music was not included in the culture produced during the Harlem

Renaissance. In the first section of this paper Locke’s ideas about the role of culture in the

Harlem Renaissance will be discussed and compared to the view of Langston Hughes and his

younger generation of Harlem Renaissance intellectuals. In the second section, Locke’s vision

on culture will be linked with his ideas on blues music to illustrate the reasons why Locke

chose to ignore the blues.

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Section 1: Culture according to Locke

At the turn of the 19th century African-Americans moved into a new era. The 19th

century had marked the abolition of slavery, one of the greatest milestones in African-

American history. In the period that followed African-Americans started to create a place for

themselves in what was still a discriminatory, prejudiced, and segregated American society.

A very important idea, or philosophy, that shaped this process was that of the New Negro.

The Old Negro represented the memories of the enslaved African-American, while the New

Negro embodied the new promises for African-Americans in the 20th century. The New

Negro would be the “sign of a new racial self” (Gates 133). There were many interpretations

of what this New Negro should be, but perhaps the most influential one was by Alain Locke.

Educated in English and philosophy at the prestigious universities of Harvard, Oxford and

Berlin, Locke was a well-educated and cultured man, whose views became very important in

the Harlem Renaissance. Locke believed that “with … renewed self-respect and self-

dependence, the life of the Negro community is bound to enter a new dynamic phase” (The

New Negro 4). This new era would be created by the New Negroes of the 20th century. In

the opening essay of The New Negro, Locke formulated the objectives that the New Negroes

should try to achieve. They should “attempt to repair a damaged group psychology and

reshape a warped social perspective” (The New Negro 10). According to Locke, this damaged

group psychology was the result of slavery. The warped social perspective was created by

white American slave-owners. It affected the self-image of African-Americans, who came to

see themselves according to the standards that whites set. Locke wanted to change this self-

image and wanted African-Americans to become more dependent on their own abilities.

As a philosopher, Locke had very specific ideas about African-American culture and its

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values. His biographer Leonard Harris recognized three key topics in his works: the nature of

value, race relations, and aesthetic experience (Harris and Molesworth 1). Locke’s

background as a philosopher and thinker about aesthetics and culture made his ideas

influential in the definition of the Harlem Renaissance. To define a cultural or social

movement, one needs people to think about the bigger perspective of it, not simply

contributors. Locke’s philosophical background made him qualified to contribute in this

aspect of the movement. As mentioned before, scholars on the Harlem Renaissance

recognized this and saw Locke as one of the most influential founders of the movement. As

part of a younger generation of Harlem Renaissance intellectuals, Langston Hughes did not

have the same academic background that Locke had. Hughes, as a poet and writer, did not

think about culture on the same philosophical level as Locke.

This view is shared by historian David Levering Lewis. He identified six notables

without whom the Harlem Renaissance and its culture would not have been as substantial as

it was, namely Alain Locke, Jessie Fauset, Charles Johnson, Walter White, Casper Holstein

and James Weldon Johnson. According to Lewis, “without these six, the Harlem roster of

twenty-six novels, ten volumes of poetry, five Broadway plays, innumerable essays and short

stories, two or three performed ballets and concerti, and the large output of canvas and

sculpture would have been a great deal shorter” (Lewis 121). Why does he not include

Langston Hughes into these six? Hughes produced a similarly impressive amount of poems

and essays that contributed to the Harlem Renaissance. In 1970, a reviewer in the periodical

Black People explained it as follows:

Those whose prerogative it is to determine the rank of writers have never rated him

highly, but if the weight of public response is any gauge then Langston Hughes stands

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at the apex of literary relevance among Black people (“Langston Hughes and the

Example of ‘Simple’” 36).

According to this reviewer, of which the name is unknown, the fact that Hughes was not

recognized as important in the definition of the movement had to do with his class. While he

published his ideas about African-American culture in the same period as Locke, he has not

been valued as a notable that helped define the movement. Amongst his readers, ordinary

African-Americans, Hughes was seen as very influential, whilst by the scholars of the Harlem

Renaissance he is not included as that relevant. Hughes did publish several short essays in

which he expressed his views on African-American culture and what it should be. Two

examples of such essays are “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” (1926) and “To

Negro Writers” (1935). In these essays Hughes expressed his view on ways to achieve the

goals that Alain Locke set in The New Negro. Hughes defines the goals for the African-

American artist of the Harlem Renaissance as follows:

To my mind, it is the duty of the younger Negro artist … to change through the force

of his art that old whispering "I want to be white," hidden in the aspirations of his

people, to "Why should I want to be white? I am a Negro--and beautiful" (“The Negro

Artist and the Racial Mountain”).

These goals seem similar to Locke’s goals for the New Negro. Locke wants African-Americans

to become more self-dependent and have more self-respect and race pride (The New Negro

4). African-Americans, according to Hughes, should realize their own inner beauty and not

strive for white standards of beauty. These are important similarities to acknowledge,

because Hughes’ vision will provide a framework through which the discrepancy between

Locke’s ideals and their implementation can be analyzed. Namely, their goals prove to be

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similar, but both men have different ideas on how these goals should be achieved. These

different views on the implementation will be compared in the following.

First of all, it is important to recognize that Locke does not only want to address

African-Americans with his philosophy. He also believes that white Americans should be

included in the fight of the New Negroes. According to Locke mutual understanding between

African-Americans and whites is key in order to change the position of African-Americans in

society. In order to make this happen, the relations between both races should be improved.

Locke believes that this improvement of race relations should not be focused on the

rapprochement of the common men of both races, but on the elite. According to Locke, “the

only safeguard for mass relations in the future must be provided in the carefully maintained

contacts of the enlightened minorities of both race groups” (The New Negro 9). These

enlightened minorities started working together during the Harlem Renaissance. Men and

women of the white elite became patrons to writers and artists, giving them financial and

editorial support for producing their works. The money and networks of white patrons

provided a way for the African-American intellectuals and artists of the Harlem Renaissance

to export their works and their ideas about the advancement of their social position, thus

expanding the reach of the movement (Lewis 98).

While most African-American artists during the Harlem Renaissance in some way or

another depended on white patrons, not every Harlem Renaissance intellectual believed

that a cooperation of the elite would improve race relations in American society. Langston

Hughes, as part of the younger generation of intellectuals, also believed in bringing together

white Americans and African-Americans. In his 1935 essay “To Negro Writers” he defined a

number of practical things that African-American writers could contribute to through their

work. One of them was the following:

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Negro writers can seek to unite blacks and whites in our country, not on the nebulous

basis of an inter-racial meeting, or the shifting sands of religious brotherhood, but on

the solid ground of the daily working-class struggle to wipe out, now and forever, all

the old inequalities of the past (“To Negro Writers”).

Both men believed in the importance of interracial cooperation to stimulate the

advancement of African-Americans in society. Their opinions differ in terms of class.

Whereas Locke believed that better race relations could only develop if the elites of both

races worked together, his contemporary Langston Hughes believed in the rapprochement

of the lower classes of both races. Locke’s belief in the elite was important in his general

view on culture, therefore an expansion on this view will follow.

Locke expressed his opinion on this in his speech “The Ethics of Culture” delivered at

Howard University in 1923. He stated that “culture must develop an elite” (“Ethics of

Culture” 180). Locke’s wording might be confusing here, so it is important to know what he

means by this. In order to create his envisioned level of culture, Locke believes that the elite

should lead the way. At the same time, the culture that is produced should be directed at an

elite audience. This indicates that Locke’s view on culture is based on a division in different

classes within the African-American community. He advises his students to ignore the lower

class of African-Americans: “Your chief handicap in this matter as young people of today is

the psychology and “pull” of the crowd. Culturally speaking, they and their point of view

define vulgarity” (“Ethics of Culture” 180). This clearly indicates that Locke believes that non-

educated and non-cultured people are inferior to those who are educated and cultured.

Cultured people, according to Locke, should distance themselves from the lower classes,

because they should maintain the standards of culture that can only move forward. If they

would pay too much attention to the demand of the crowd the level of culture might

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decrease and this should be avoided, as it is the task of the cultured people to maintain the

standards of culture (“Ethics of Culture” 180). This, however, presents a problem. If only the

culturally articulate express their opinions this would mean that the reach of the newly

created works of art would be limited, since Locke recognizes that the African-American

educated class is small. In his words, “as a race group we are at the critical stage where we

are releasing creative artistic talent in excess of our group ability to understand and support

it” (“Ethics of Culture” 182). It becomes clear here that Locke distinguishes different “race

groups”. On the one hand he sees the group of African-Americans who are able to

understand the new art, namely, the elite. It is this group of people whose reward and

recognition he aspires. On the other hand there is the group of the working class African-

American who Locke vulgarizes. This distinction shows unequivocally that his view on culture

is truly elitist.

A second aspect that is important to recognize when discussing Locke’s view on

culture is the fact that he takes white American culture as a standard to live up to. Locke

believed that the best way to create a new position for the African-American was to develop

African-American cultural expressions such as literature and music. According to Locke “a

people is judged by its capacity to contribute to culture” and this would be the best way for

African-Americans to win “just reward and recognition” (“Ethics of Culture” 184). This

statement is interesting, because Locke makes the assumption, or is of the opinion, that

people are continuously judged. He assumes that African-American cultural expressions until

then were not deemed worthy of reward and recognition and needed to be improved. This

assumption could mean that Locke refers to the recognition of white American society,

because most white people in the United States did not appreciate African-American culture

at the time. The recognition that would arise with African-Americans’ new contributions to

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American culture would start changing the damaged group psychology of the Old Negro into

that of the New Negro. The Old Negro was inferior to white Americans, in the perspective of

both white Americans and African-Americans. If the African-American culture of the Harlem

Renaissance would be recognized in society the artists would have more reasons to realize

their own value, and at the same time white recognition of African-American value could

change the general perception of African-Americans in society. If they were seen as people

who could contribute valuable culture, this view would be taken to the future and would

leave a positive mark on the self-image of African-Americans. However, it can also be seen in

a different light. Locke’s goal for the New Negro was to gain a more positive self-image,

more independent of the white stereotypes that existed in society. By searching for reward

and recognition, however, the dependence of African-American people on white culture and

white Americans’ evaluation of African-American value to art continues to exist. This

illustrates the discrepancy between Locke’s goals for the Harlem Renaissance and the New

Negroes and the practical implementation of his views. On the one hand, Locke wants

African-Americans to prove their rightful position in American society by creating art, but on

the other hand the success of this goal depends on the reward and recognition that is given

by the white elite.

Whereas Locke strived for recognition and reward of the newly produced culture of

both African-American and white elites without the influence of the lower classes of African-

Americans, Hughes wanted the African-American artist to not let him be influenced by any

kind of audience. He expressed this as follows:

We younger Negro artists … intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves

without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it

doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too. … If colored people are

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pleased we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn't matter either. We build

our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the

mountain, free within ourselves. (“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”)

This passage illustrates the aim of total independence of any kind of audience. Hughes

emphasizes the value of being able to express oneself freely as an African-American artist,

without thinking of the recognition of white or African-American critics. The goal for the

artist is to be “free within ourselves”, free from any kind of verdict, be it positive or negative.

Hughes’ aim for the African-American artist is a feeling of strength and pride. This is

completely in accordance with Locke’s ideals for the New Negro that he expressed in his

anthology: namely a more positive self-image and race pride (The New Negro 4).

Conclusion of section 1 Although Alain Locke’s philosophy of the New Negro seems to be inclusive of all

African-Americans, his vision on how this new group psychology should be reached proves

that the implementation Locke envisions was elitist. Locke was aiming his objectives at the

elite of African-American intellectuals because in his opinion only these cultured and

educated African-Americans could value worthy African-American culture and maintain its

standards. Locke’s dependence on white culture is also important to acknowledge, because

it illustrates the discrepancy between his goals for the New Negro and the practical

implementation. While on the one hand Locke’s New Negro is more confident and not

dependent on the white perspective on him, Locke’s need for justification and reward as he

expressed in “The Ethics of Culture” (1923) illustrates that the opinion of white America is

still important to him. Langston Hughes’ perspective on the Harlem Renaissance and its

culture highlights that the goals of the Harlem Renaissance could also be achieved by the

lower classes of African-Americans, in cooperation with the white lower class.

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This analysis of both Locke and Hughes’ ideas about culture and the Harlem

Renaissance clarifies that Locke believes in the importance of an African-American elite

leading the way to the New Negro mentality. Hughes, however, believed in the importance

of the lower classes of African-Americans and their power to change the social perspective

on African-Americans. These two different views influenced the role that blues music played

in their respective opinions regarding music. Locke and the elite of Harlem Renaissance

intellectuals wanted to exclude the music of the lower classes, blues music, while Hughes

believed in the power of the lower classes and valued their music as very important.

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Section 2: Locke and Music

When Locke published his anthology The New Negro in 1925 it was not only the

Harlem Renaissance that was in full swing. African-American culture was developing in

another area as well, namely blues music. The 1920s were the era in which blues music

became more and more popular in American society. Blues music developed from the music

made by slaves in the South of the country. For instance, slaves used music, so-called work

songs, to accompany their work on the plantations. It was a way for slaves to keep a certain

rhythm in their work and to keep in contact with the other slaves while working (Jones 28).

In the churches of the slaves, the spirituals were religious songs in which the slaves could

express their religious feelings. All throughout slavery, these forms of music were controlled

by white slave owners who made sure that the slaves remained focused on their work on the

plantations (Jones 27). LeRoi Jones stated that “each phase of the Negro’s music issued

directly from the dictates of his social and psychological environment” (Jones 65). With the

official abolition of slavery in 1865 African-Americans were not bound to the rules of their

masters, and they could start expressing their music more freely. This meant that the topics

of the music also changed. Music became not only a way to guide work on plantations, or to

worship God, but to express the personal feelings of the singer (Jones 62). Blues music

developed into music to be sung for entertainment (Jones 94).

With the Great Migration of the 1910s African-Americans took their blues music to

the cities of the North. This change of setting entailed big changes for both the musicians

and the music itself. A professionalization of blues music started, and it entered the scene of

American popular music. Blues music developed from the so-called primitive blues to classic

blues. It was this new type of blues that attracted white producers and label owners to sign

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African-American blues singers to their labels. They started producing so-called race records,

commercial recordings aimed strictly at an African-American audience (Jones 98). The

popularity of these blues singers was soaring in the 1920s. For example, one of the most

famous blues singers of the era Bessie Smith sold 780 000 copies of her first hit song “Down

Hearted Blues” in 1923 (Shaw 71).

The rise of blues music in American society is an important historical context to

consider when discussing the Harlem Renaissance, because the popularity of blues music

drew a lot of attention to Harlem. Besides the fact that African-Americans came to Harlem

from all over the country, white people also came to Harlem to enjoy the entertainment that

African-Americans could provide for them. Intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance strived

for a better position for African-Americans in American society. The popularity of classic

blues meant that African-American musicians earned recognition of a large audience of both

African-American and white listeners. One could expect that these developments had a

connection, influenced each other, or were related to one another. However, despite its

popularity, Locke still did not include blues music in his vision of the Harlem Renaissance.

There are multiple reasons why Locke chose to do this, which center around his elitist view

on African-American music. Before turning to a discussion on this issue, the scholarly

perception of the role of music should be discussed.

Whereas Locke believed in the higher classes of society and wanted to exclude

influence of the lower classes, Hughes highlighted the value of the lower classes in the

improvement of race relations. With regard to music, Locke excluded the blues from the

Harlem Renaissance, whereas Hughes wanted to include it. Scholarship on the role of music

in the Harlem Renaissance only recognizes Locke’s perspective. In 1997 Professor of Music

and American Studies Jon Michael Spencer published one of the first books on the role of

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music in the Harlem Renaissance. According to Spencer the Harlem Renaissance scholars

Nathan Irvin Huggins and David Levering Lewis treat music as a “side show to the

Renaissance” (xx). In his book Spencer elaborates on the role of music in the Harlem

Renaissance. He claims that “just as the Renaissance in literature was a “classical”

movement, so was the Renaissance in music a “classical movement”” (xx). In his book

Spencer discusses the music that is composed by African-American composers during the

Harlem Renaissance, and in this context the influence of the blues does come forward. Blues

music was one of the folk sources that these composers used for their compositions, and

therefore it was important. The role of the popularity of blues music itself in the times of the

Harlem Renaissance, however, is not part of Spencer’s discussion. While he criticizes Huggins

and Lewis for their ignorance of the role of music in their scholarship, he supports their view

of the Harlem Renaissance that its artists used folk culture to create a higher art with it (xx).

This illustrates that a large part of the scholarship on the Harlem Renaissance ignores the

view of revisionists such as Langston Hughes, who wanted to include blues music, within the

movement. This focus in scholarship on the Harlem Renaissance makes it interesting to look

at reasons why Locke does not include blues music.

Firstly, Locke’s vision on African-American music shows the same kind of elitism and

opinion on white culture that can be found in his view on the Harlem Renaissance and

culture in general. In his speech “Ethics of Culture” Locke claims that he strived for “just

recognition and reward” for African-American cultural expressions (184-185). To be able to

create a better place for African-Americans in society, this recognition and reward should

also come from white Americans. Locke’s view on culture depended on recognition by

whites. Locke’s view on music can demonstrate how influential white standards were to

Locke. It was not simply white recognition that Locke aimed for, since he also believed that

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European, white, music incorporated with aspects of African-American folk forms such as

the blues, jazz and spirituals, would be the ideal kind of music. In The New Negro it becomes

clear that Locke sees formal music as an ideal kind of music that African-Americans should

strive for. He wonders why African-American folk music has not yet contributed anything to

“modern choral and orchestral musical development” (The New Negro 209). Locke’s ideal

kind of music is a new kind of African-American formal music based on its folk expressions.

Interesting in this is that Locke makes a specific reference to the development of European

classical music:

If it be objected that [African-American formal music] is too far a cry from the simple

folk spiritual to the larger forms and idioms of modern music, let us recall the folk

song origins of the very tradition which is now classic in European music (The New

Negro 209).

Locke clearly sees the European, mainly white, classical music as the ideal. The fact that his

ideal kind of culture was based on white culture indicates that he still thought white people

dominated the cultural field of the time. To gain the recognition that Locke aspires, African-

American culture should let go of its true folk forms and develop in a more formal, and thus

white, way. According to Locke “a genius that would organize [the] distinctive elements [of

African-American folk music] in a formal way would be the musical giant of his age” (The

New Negro 209). Whereas Locke wants to change the self-image of African-Americans into

one that is less dependent on the perspective that whites have on them, by aiming for a kind

of music that is mastered by white people, the opinion of white people remains important.

Locke’s preference for white types of culture was criticized by the younger

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generation of Harlem Renaissance intellectuals, Langston Hughes amongst them. He

expressed this feeling and the reasons for it as follows:

One of the most promising of the young Negro poets said to me once, "I want to be a

poet—not a Negro poet," meaning, I believe, "I want to write like a white poet";

meaning subconsciously, "I would like to be a white poet"; meaning behind that, "I

would like to be white." And I was sorry the young man said that, for no great poet

has ever been afraid of being himself. This is the mountain standing in the way of any

true Negro art in America--this urge within the race toward whiteness, the desire to

pour racial individuality into the mold of American standardization, and to be as little

Negro and as much American as possible. (“The Negro Artist and the Racial

Mountain”)

This passage illustrates an important aspect of the debate between the older generation

and the younger generation of Harlem Renaissance. Hughes criticizes a poet of his time of

clinging too much to the standards of white culture instead of being proud of being himself.

There is a mold of white American standards that African-Americans desire, but according to

Hughes this should not be the case. This criticism can also be applied to Locke’s view on

music. Locke sees white culture, namely white European formal music, as the ideal kind of

music that African-Americans can contribute to. His view on the kind of culture that needs to

be produced has been classified by scholars as Eurocentric. Lewis even called Locke

“Eurocentric to the tip of his cane” (117), which illustrates even more that according to

Locke white European culture is the ideal that African-Americans should strive for. This

highlights the discrepancy between his goals for the Harlem Renaissance and the practical

kind of culture that he aspires for. On the one hand Locke claims that he wants African-

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Americans to break free of the white image that exists of them and to turn into a people

with race pride, independent of whites. On the other hand Locke’s ideal kind of culture is still

mainly focused on white culture.

Locke elaborates on his view on African-American music in more detail in 1936 with

the publication of The Negro and his Music. In this work Locke shares his version of a history

of African-American music. He includes his personal views on how African-American music

should develop, and therefore it cannot be seen as an objective, historical representation of

African-American music. He presents African-American musical history chronically in his

book, with eleven chapters on different phases of African-American musical history. He

devotes a chapter of his book to blues music and other secular folk songs (28-35). In this

chapter he solely discusses the origins of blues music, in the 19th century in the rural areas of

the country. He discusses the different kinds of secular folk songs, the blues amongst them,

in several regions in the country. Whereas he does acknowledge that blues music was an

important part of African-American musical history, he does not acknowledge their

importance in the present. The blues music of his time, he sees as a result of Tin Pan Alley,

the famous music scene in the United States dominated by white label-owners who,

according to Locke, were enslaving their African-American artists for their commercial value

(The Negro and his Music 4). He has a derogatory view of the popular music of his time,

including blues music. The following passage illustrates Locke’s opinion on this very clearly:

If Negro music is to fulfill its best possibilities, Negroes … must build up two things

essential for the highest musical success;—a class of trained musicians who know and

love the folk, music and are able to develop it into great classical music, and a class of

trained music lovers who will support by appreciation the best in the Negro's musical

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heritage and not allow it to be prostituted by the vaudeville stage or TinPanAlley [sic].

(The Negro and his Music 4)

Locke’s choice of words leaves no doubt about his preference for classical music as the best

kind of African-American music. In The New Negro he already expressed his preference for a

development of African-American music into formal music, and this is a strong confirmation

of that view. Similarly to Locke’s belief that an elite of African-Americans should take the

lead in the advancement of race relations and in the production of worthy cultural products,

Locke also wishes an elite of African-American composers to produce formal music for a

“trained audience”. The audience that Locke aims at for this music is not inclusive of all

African-Americans, but directed at the elite that is cultured enough to understand and value

it properly. Locke’s derogatory reference to Tin Pan Alley, the music industry of the 1920s

where most famous African-American blues artists found their success, is illustrative of

Locke’s elitist view on music.

Conclusion of section 2 In the 1920s African-American blues musicians started to become famous with their

music. Artists such as Bessie Smith and Mamie Smith started recording their music at white

record labels, and they started getting recognition by both African-American and white

audiences. Despite this popularity, Alain Locke chose to ignore blues music in his vision for

African-American culture. By ignoring the blues, Locke virtually ignored the opinion of

hundreds of thousands of African-Americans, those who listened to blues music. Locke’s

view on culture and music, expressed in works such as “Ethics of Culture” (1923) and The

Negro and his Music (1936), can be used to explain his omission of the blues. Locke believed

that the African-American elite should take the lead in the production of African-American

music. According to Locke only those who were trained enough could recognize the worthy

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kind of music. Interesting in this is that Locke’s ideal kind of music is formal, classical music.

This kind of music is typically white music, which originated in 19th century Europe.

Therefore, the discrepancy in Locke’s thinking is illustrated by his view on culture. Whereas

he wanted to create a better place for all African-Americans, his belief in a small elite of

African-Americans to take the lead as well as his idolization of white musical forms highlights

that Locke could not let go of white standards.

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Conclusion

Alain Locke’s publication of his anthology of essays The New Negro in 1925 was an

important influence for the start of the Harlem Renaissance. In this anthology, Locke

established his goals for the New Negro, the image of the African-American in the new

century. He wanted African-Americans to change their mentality of dependence on white

opinion, which came from centuries of enslavement, into one of self-dependence and self-

respect. Locke believed that this change of mentality could be established by producing new

kinds of culture. One would expect that since Locke aims for every African-American to

change their mentality and self-perception, he would also include all cultural expressions of

African-Americans. However, Locke’s vision for the practical implementation of the goals for

the Harlem Renaissance illustrates a discrepancy. Whereas Locke’s goals for the New Negro

were meant for all African-Americans, the way Locke envisioned their practical

implementation exposes Locke’s elitist view on culture. This elitism can be found in multiple

ways.

Firstly, Locke’s view on who should produce this culture is elitist. In several works

that Locke published, Locke expresses his belief in the African-American elite. Locke believes

that only the elite of African-Americans can truly value worthy African-American culture and

maintain its standards. Locke wants to exclude the influence of lower-class African-

Americans and their culture. This is a clear example of the discrepancy in Locke’s philosophy

for the New Negro. Whereas he wants every African-American to create a new more positive

self-image, the lower classes of African-Americans are excluded from any influence.

Secondly, the kind of culture that should be produced according to Locke illustrates

that Locke’s views are elitist. He strives for recognition and reward of African-American

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culture, and only the African-American elite should be involved in the production of culture.

This proves the contradiction in Locke’s thinking because while he wants the New Negro to

become more independent and to gain more self-respect, the recognition Locke aspires to

should be gained by complying with white standards of culture. This can be seen more

clearly in Locke’s ideals for the kind of music the New Negroes should produce. In The Negro

and his Music (1936) Locke expressed his ideal kind of music. This should be based on

European classical music, but it should incorporate aspects of African-American folk music.

For Locke, folk music such as the blues is only valuable if it has the potential to be elevated

into formal music by African-American composers.

The discrepancy in Locke’s thinking can be highlighted by taking a look at the

arguments of a younger generation of Harlem Renaissance intellectuals, such as Langston

Hughes, whose views proved that the ideals for the New Negro and the Harlem Renaissance

could also include the lower classes of African-Americans. He criticized Locke and other older

generation intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance for their desire to create white forms of

culture. Hughes expressed very strongly in his works that African-American artists should not

keep up white standards for themselves, but they should be more appreciative of their own

beauty. Also, Hughes emphasized that to achieve the goals of the Harlem Renaissance the

working-class African-American is just as important as the elite.

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Representations. No. 24 Special Issue: America Reconstructed, 1840-1940 (1988): 129-155.

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Harris, Leonard, ed. Philosophy of Alain Locke: Harlem Renaissance and Beyond. Philadelphia: Temple

University Press, 1989. Web.

Harris, Leonard and Molesworth, Charles. Alain L. Locke: Biography of a Philosopher. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 2008. Web.

Huggins, Nathan Irvin. Harlem Renaissance. New York: Oxford UP, 1971. Web.

Hughes, Langston. “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”. The Nation (23 June 1926). Web.

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“Langston Hughes and the Example of ‘Simple’”. Black World Vol. 19 No. 8 (June

1970): 35-38. Web.

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