Locke published literature that provided insight into the experiences , emotions , aspirations and historical perspectives of Black people at a time when life was changing for tens of thousands of Black people in America . The Great Migration was in full swing , as Black people moved from the most oppressive conditions in the South to generally more accepting places in the North . Not only were Black people moving northward ; they were transitioning from rural life to cities , populating places like Detroit , Chicago , Baltimore , Philadelphia and New York .
Although talent could be found wherever Black people lived in the United States , New York came to be recognized as the headquarters of Black culture , with Harlem attracting many of the best-known writers . The socalled New Negro movement took hold in the 1920s , with new opportunities for writers , painters , sculptors and musicians in the young jazz age . This period stretched into the 1930s , and the movement eventually became to be known as the Harlem Renaissance .
Of course , Black people possessed innate talent for self-expression since the first ship of enslaved Africans arrived on America ’ s shores , even if their gifts were suppressed by slavery , Jim Crow and other forms of discrimination . For example , Phyllis Wheatley , enslaved as a young girl in West Africa , became the first Black author of a published book of poetry in the late 1700s . And in 1827 , Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm edited America ’ s first Black newspaper , Freedom ’ s Journal , writing , “ We wish to plead our own cause ; For too long others have spoken for us .”
Beginning in the early 1900s , the narrative of African American life by Black people was chronicled by publications like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ’ s magazine , The Crisis , and Opportunity , a magazine published by the National Urban League , among others .
W
. Paul Coates , who is now one of the nation ’ s leading publishers of Black books , stresses the need to see the New Negro movement as evolving directly from Black activists and literature of the 1920s . The New Negro movement , Coates believes , also influenced the Pan-African “ Negritude movement ,” which sought to reclaim African culture and values during the 1940s and 1950s . The Negritude movement brought everything full circle , he said , and inspired the Black power movement of the 1960s and 1970s .
Coates ’ publishing house republished the Survey Graphic issue in 1979 near the beginning of his decades-long mission to revive obscure books by and about people of African descent . Coates is now working to pull together a centennial celebration of the Graphic Survey issue and the book .
Locke ’ s work on The New Negro was a milestone of the Harlem Renaissance that was meant to speak to both Black and White audiences .
Coates has both admiration and criticism of Locke ’ s New Negro . Hiis main critique is that the anthology omitted Marcus Garvey and downplayed Garvey ’ s political influence on the New Negro movement .
“ Most of the contributors in The New Negro were basically beholden to White people , including Locke ” Coates said . “ They were dependent on a White superstructure that would possibly support and publish them . They couldn ’ t afford to be too close to the radicalism of Marcus Garvey . Yet , his ( vision ) was the path toward their selfreliance and a true renaissance .”
20