Black Culture and the Harlem Renaissance

D uring the period that Harlem was emerging as a black ghetto, a transformation was also underway in black social and political thought. It was the consensus of most black intellectuals that a "New Negro" emerged among black youth in the years immediately following World War I. As Alain Locke observed in 1926, "the younger generation is vibrant with a new psychology" which was manifested in a shift from "social disillusionment to race pride." Locke went on to note that this new psychology rejected the old stereotypes of black "aunties, uncles, and mammies" and substituted instead self-respect, self-dependence, and racial unity. Locke's New Negroes centered their hopes on a new vision of opportunity, social and economic freedom, and a chance to organize and fight for improved racial conditions. The New Negroes were unwilling to place their future in the hands of white America; they were no longer content to turn the other cheek when confronted with discrimination and prejudice. They were not really radical -- in fact, their values and objectives were basically middle class; all they demanded was an end to American racial prejudice and the institution of equal opportunity and social justice. However, they often assumed a posture of militancy when they voiced these demands, such as when one cried, "the next time white folks pick on black folks, something's going to drop -- dead white folks."¹

Actually the term "New Negro" and the ideas associated with it did not originate in the 1920s. The first use of the term seems to have been on

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