At the same time , Coates said The New Negro book is “ extremely important to our literary history , but we must keep in mind the contributors were a sample of the hundreds of talented Black writers in America .”
Novelist Diane McKinney-Whetstone sees a connection between writers of that period to her writing . She has long been inspired by Claude McKay ’ s poem , “ If We Must Die ,” which concludes :
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave , And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow ! What though before us lies the open grave ? Like men we ’ ll face the murderous , cowardly pack , Pressed to the wall , dying , but fighting back !
McKinney-Whetstone , who has just completed the manuscript for her eighth novel , draws inspiration from Zora Neale Hurston , the Harlem Renaissance writer .
“ You know it would be easy for a character to be reduced to a stereotype . So , I have to get everything out of my head and remember my characters in all their dimensions ,” McKinney-Whetstone said . “ The Harlem Renaissance and the New Negro movement it spanned , was important for changing narratives about Black people .” photo credit Melanie Dupree
It was also important because as the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe said : “ Until the lions have their own historians , the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter .”
One hundred years ago , Alain Locke ’ s work , The New Negro , celebrated a period in which the lions of Black America wrote their own history . •
Norris P . West , a former newspaper reporter and editor , worked at The Baltimore Sun and newspapers in Ohio and Pennsylvania .
Diane McKinney-Whetstone
“ Until the lions have their own historians , the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter .”
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